


Hurricane

by Dark_K



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, The Avengers (2012), Thor (2011)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-11
Updated: 2014-07-16
Packaged: 2017-11-05 03:55:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 42,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/402178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dark_K/pseuds/Dark_K
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He only ever wanted to bring Sirius back, but in Harry's life nothing ever goes the way he wants it to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Nothing you recognize belongs to me.
> 
> This will be slash, as you can see in the pairings, and in the summary, if you don’t like it, don’t read it.
> 
> I haven’t seen Avengers yet, and I have read some of their comic books, but I won’t take them into account – the only canon I’m following is a bit of what we can see in Thor and HP timeline, up till the last chapter, the Epilogue did not happen.
> 
> I hope you guys like it!

 

**HURRICANE**

**  
**

**CHAPTER ONE**

He could say it had all started when he realized he wasn’t getting any older.

It was quite baffling, the way Ron and Hermione would look like actual grownups, and he’d have that boyish look still. It hadn’t been an issue at first, but it had certainly grown to be so, and then he did the only thing he could actually think of doing: he ran away.

Not like a coward, or out of cowardice per se – he ran away, and it was by Hermione and Ron and Ginny’s advice. They weren’t afraid of him, but they were afraid for him - of what the Wizarding Government might do if they found out he wasn’t aging, that he might be immortal.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know what the reason for his newest freakish problem could be: he knew the Hallows had somehow left a mark upon him. He also knew that even if he had broken the Elder Wand, and left the Ring in the forest, they had found a way back to him, unharmed and complete.

He was their master, and they weren’t going to let him forget that. And apparently that meant he wasn’t going to age, or die – even if he wasn’t quite ready to put the later to the test yet.

So he had fled the Magical World, disappearing in the immensity of the Non-Magical folk and their normal lives. He tried finding jobs, but it was hard at first, and then he completely gave up when he realized that without some sort of education he would never find anything he actually enjoyed. He recurred to the Goblins, and converted his assets into muggle money, investing them in safe investments, and just hoped for the best, while trying to apply for a good University.

He studied for a few years, never actually knowing what he would major into, and in no hurry to find out – it wasn’t as if he was getting any older – until he found Professor Jane Foster’s work, and that definitely caught his attention.

She studied something at first considered absolutely insane – some sort of gateway between this world and another, something called Einstein-Rosen bridge, a wormhole that could actually take you from this dimension into another.

He remembered quite well some sort of gateway that could take you from this dimension and that nobody actually knew where it led. And because of that – because of that small chance that he might be able to find Sirius, to understand what had happened, the almost inexistent chance that Bellatrix’s Avada Kedavra hadn’t caught him, only the Veil, because of all that, he majored in astrophysics, and applied for a job with Jane Foster.

She didn’t really need him, though. She had SHIELD behind her, all the equipment she might ever need, an assistant that wasn’t exactly in her field but helped out a lot, and a dear friend who had her back.

Despite all of this, once she heard his story – or the part of it he could actually tell, how he had lost a dear family member in a gateway and was trying to find a way for him to come back -, she took him on. After all, they were pretty much on the same boat.

It had took him years though, to get where he wanted. And yet, he looked seventeen years old, with no facial hair to speak of, no muscle building to talk about, and a definite disappearance of his most trade mark traits. His scar had faded, his skin was always pale, even if he lived in New Mexico during Summer and Winter alike – and he was sure he was losing… something. Not his magic in the pure sense of the word, but something in him, around him, in the deepest corners of his soul. He was losing his humanity somehow, and yet he was still human. He couldn’t quite understand any of it, but he could feel himself shifting day after day, and that unnerved him. He didn’t want to be unique anymore; he didn’t want to be the odd one out.

Harry tried to ignore his changes most of the time, even if from time to time Jane or Darcy, or even Erik, would stare at him as if they couldn’t quite figure him out, or would comment about his appearance changing – never getting older, but never quite the same. He always chalked it up to a family trait, good genes that took longer to look older, but he knew they didn’t buy it. They had met Gods, and seen Rainbow Bridges at work. They had seen a fight between a metal monster from another world and someone they considered a friend. They knew weird when they saw it, and Jane, mostly, just thought he was from another world, and he was working with her to get back there.

It was almost the truth, so he let her believe that for as long as she wanted to.

The first one to leave their happy team was Erik – SHIELD called him to work on their New York base, and he left them to do his own work. They still talked pretty frequently, mostly Jane and him, but she didn’t want to leave her home in New Mexico and move to New York.

After hearing her history with a certain blond God, he could understand her. She didn’t want to miss the chance of meeting Thor again, and staying in New Mexico would guarantee he knew where to find her.

Darcy was next. Even though she loved working with Jane, she was a Political Science Major, and she wanted to work in that field – SHIELD found a place for her soon enough, and she left them to work on some base abroad.

Harry and Jane had been doing their work together for almost four years now, almost two of those only the pair of them, with the assistants SHIELD sent them, but never really trusting anyone else to actually do their work. They had reasons to want the Bridges to work, they had motivation for trying to open one. The others wanted to do their jobs for the academic achievement, or even for the glory it would bring them, but Harry and Jane – for them it was personal. It was their lives.

They became best friends and allies, co-workers and partners in everything work-related. They hadn’t become lovers because Jane was still completely in love with Thor and Harry… well, women just wasn’t Harry’s thing anymore.

Maybe they had never been.

Their friendship had grown even stronger every time they actually managed to achieve something in their work, and Jane had been saying for days they were on the verge of a breakthrough, of something that would make them understand how the bridge would work. She was convinced something had gone wrong in Asgard, where Thor had come from, and that was why he had never come back as he had promised.

It occurred to Harry, though, that time might run differently in Asgard. Maybe, for Thor, it had been only a few hours since he had left her, while for Jane it had been years. He shared this thought with Jane, and she seemed grateful – what he didn’t share was that, if trouble had found Thor in Asgard, then maybe he was dead. Gods could die, as far as Harry knew – he, however, wasn’t a God, and he couldn’t die, no matter how much he wanted it sometimes.

Death was a constant in Harry’s thoughts. He was not suicidal, or even wanted to die right now, but he did want to get older. He wanted to experience life at its fullest, something he couldn’t quite do - he didn’t know how. He didn’t know how to let people close to him again, the only one he considered a friend nowadays was Jane, and even that he would regret later, even if he hadn’t know that for many years.

The day he regretted getting that close to another human being started all pretty much the same as always. Jane got a call from SHIELD early in the morning, they wanted her to move to New York, they had more resources there, more people to help, more they could do to speed up her bridges, but she did not want to go. For Harry it wouldn’t matter, but he didn’t want to leave Jane on her own, so he said he didn’t want to go either, and together, they got another extension on their research period in New Mexico.

Jane left their offices at 11am; she just had to go to the bank, she said, she just had to check a few things on her account.

At 11.35 Harry felt his blood run cold, because somehow he knew – he just _knew_ – something was wrong. Something was so very, very wrong. He called Jane on her cell phone seven times before he gave up, and decided to make his way to the bank and back, just to check if she was okay.

He hadn’t even gotten as far as the front door when their phone rang, and he knew Jane was not okay.

Jane had been crossing the street to the bank when the traffic lights were just turning red. A drunk driver decided to make a run for it, and he had lost complete control over his car, running over Jane.

She had died instantly, painlessly, in a single stroke of her body hitting the big truck-like car the man was driving.

Harry had gotten to her a few minutes after it had all happened. His tears were running down his face before he even knew what he was doing, her head cradled on his lap, his hands running though her hair. They had to sedate him when they had taken her to the hospital, and he woke up to see Darcy by his bed, back from wherever she had been, her eyes red and puffy from the crying.

Of the funeral, burial and wake Harry couldn’t quite remember anything. He felt numb and lost – his only friend was dead, and he didn’t quite know how to cope. 

So when the SHIELD office asked him again to come to New York, he agreed. 

There was no point in New Mexico without Jane.

\----

**Tell me what you think.**

**  
**

**R E V I E W !**


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. THANL YOU ALL SO MUCH! I was overwhelmed at the response this got. SO much so that I actually watched the Avengers this weekend, so I could continue writing the story.
> 
> I hope you guys still like it.
> 
> Thank you all so much for your comments and kuddos.

**HURRICANE**

**CHAPTER TWO**

_He was a shadow, nothing more, nothing less. He had his powers, he knew that, but the way they felt, the way his body was reacting to the world around him was wrong, it didn’t feel right, it didn’t feel normal._

_He was so far, far away from home, and he was so, so angry with them, at them, his father, his brother, his mother._

_Himself._

_He had given up. When he had chosen to fall from the Rainbow Bridge, he thought it would be all over, his pain, and the constant disappointment he seemed to be to everyone who had ever known him – he thought he was free, at last._

_But Fate had other ideas, and there he was, somewhere, maybe nowhere, with no idea of what to do with his own life, if he could call it life - existing._

_And he was angry, so very angry, and getting angrier every day._

_He had so much hatred in him._

_So much hatred._

**X**

The SHIELD office in New York was somewhat of a mess – and Harry didn’t really like it. Specially because it wasn’t really an office, but some sort of hovercraft, with dozens of muggles running around, trying to make some sort of sense out of the chaos around them, receiving orders through more computer screens than Harry cared to know existed. There was something so incredibly _muggle_ about it, there was no magic in it, just science, cold and hard, and explanations for every single event that took place under the sun.

 

It actually astounded him. How could they not believe in magic? How could they rely on science so much, knowing what they knew, seeing what they saw day after day? They had seen gods and scientists who should be dead becoming more than human. How could they not _see_ the whole society that was around them? Possibly they didn’t want to see – or better: the ones who commanded them, who commanded SHIELD, did not want them – the soldiers - to see it.

 

And that’s what he was to SHIELD: a soldier. One more researcher in a huge group of them, among chaos and blipping screens, trying to find out something so much bigger than him, and a way to use it to their advantage, to the advantage of the Human Race.

 

Was he even human anymore?

 

He thought, for half a second, about asking them to explain him. Why couldn’t he die, why was he losing himself, where had Harry Potter gone, the true one, the one who had gone to Hogwarts.

 

But he knew he couldn’t, he didn’t want to be a superhero, he was just one of the researching people, nothing more.

 

He was left alone, for the most part – he was known as the person who was researching the bridges that could bring Thor back to Earth, and that was pretty much all contact he had with anyone. He couldn’t handle getting close to anyone and losing them, like he had lost Jane. If only he had gotten there sooner, just a few seconds sooner, and maybe he could have saved her.

 

He was the Master of Death, and his best friend had died.

 

Erik wasn’t taking all that kindly to Jane’s death himself. He was her guardian and best friend – sometimes, her _only_ friend, back when things were rough, and they barely had money to make it through the week on their research, living on a bus. He threw himself on his research, something called Tesseract, some sort of metal, or matter, or substance, which was supposed to create such energy that Earth would not depend on any other means to get energy ever again.

 

For Harry, it was as close to magic as SHIELD could ever hope to be. Sometimes, when Erik would get lonely, he would come and talk to Harry in the dark hours of night, or really early in the morning, when Fury was out, and even Maria Hill was sleeping.

 

It was always awkward, though. Erik had changed ever since he started working for SHIELD full time, he wasn’t the same anymore – but Harry could not say for sure if SHIELD had changed him, or if Jane’s death had done it. Either way, Harry felt responsible for it, he had become the person Jane would go to when she had a break through, making Erik feel free to get away and become involved with SHIELD, and he had been the one to let Jane die. If Erik felt awkward around him – probably because he didn’t actually like Harry all that much - then Harry could not, and would not, blame him.

 

There was something strange about the whole Tesseract thing, though. Energy, free, unending energy shouldn’t be the sort of thing SHIELD researched. Weren’t they about defending the Earth against threats and such? Why were they worried about energy anyway?

 

On his own research, things were going slowly, but steadily. He had actually understood the way the bridges were supposed to work – but a bridge needs to have two sides to connect, and this particular bridge he was trying to build had a single side. Every single calculation or analyses he had tried to make had come up with the same results: he could build half the bridge, but the rest could not be done, not by him, and not by himself. He needed someone on the other side to try and make the connection, and have the power to back it up. It was like trying to connect a phone line to a place where there were no cables to the phone: he could do his part, but he needed the rest of it to make it work.

 

The whole thing was highly irritating. He wanted to build the bridges to bring Sirius back – and apparently, no matter how many times he tried, he was starting to get the point that it wasn’t up to him: he could not do it. Not because he hadn’t tried hard enough, or researched enough, but simply because he needed help from the _other side_ , no matter how ridiculous that sounded.

 

Tired and disheartened, his head fell on the keyboard he had been typing and calculating away for the last ten hours straight.

 

He was failing.

 

“Sleep should be saved for your home hours, Mr. Potter.” said a deep voice from behind him, and looking up, Harry saw Nick Fury staring down at him.

 

“I’m sorry, sir.” he answered, trying to sit up, rubbing the bridge of his nose, where his glasses used to be “I’m just a bit frustrated.”

 

“Can’t make sense of your own work?” Fury continued, in his gruff voice. Harry could never really decide if he respected the man or if he hated him. Probably both.

 

“I can. Actually, it’s the results I’m pretty sure are definite that have me frustrated.”

 

Fury actually looked impressed for once, and simply arched an eyebrow for Harry to continue.

 

“I’ve done the calculation and the projections hundreds of times. With the right power source, and it would have to be something massive, but achievable, we _could_ open the bridge from this side. The problem is,” he continued before Fury could interrupt him “we need two sides to open a bridge. We need something to anchor it to, something to be the other base, and we have nothing. We actually would need to have someone, on the other side of this bridge, trying to open a way from there to here, at the exact same time, with the same force, for both sides to collide and then become one: a single bridge. I can only theorize, from the records of Jane’s research, that Thor and his people had some way of doing that, of forcing a bridge to come to existence, on both sides, wherever they wanted it to, but that connection seems to be lost. There’s an element missing, and it’s not something we can achieve through Earth alone.”

 

Fury was silent for a few moments, and then he shrugged.

 

“Maybe it’s time to move you to some other project. Doctor Selvig seems to think highly of you, you could help him with his Tesseract research. There are very few people who could make heads or tails of what he’s doing there, and none of them would work with us. The Tesseract is a power source, maybe _The_ Power Source, perhaps once we can get it to work properly, it can fuel enough energy that the bridge will reach further, not all the way, maybe, but far enough that the other side notices we are trying to make a connection. What do you say?”

 

He didn’t say anything, mainly because he didn’t know what to say. It was more than just realizing his work of _years_ had been useless – years were starting not to matter anymore - but he was back to square one, just like he had been all those years ago, before he had found Jane or her research and his hope to find Sirius – he had no goals, no aim, no purpose, nothing. Looking down to his computer screen, Harry sighed.

 

“Think about it, Potter. Now go home, and get some sleep, you’re no good to anyone overworked over something you can’t solve.”

 

Harry just nodded, and got his things together, leaving soon after.

 

Fury was left staring at the boy who was driving him and half the Agency crazy.

 

Harry Potter was a normal boy up to age eleven. He had school records, medical records, a few teachers very concerned about his home life, but nothing serious enough that his guardians had ever been brought to charges. However, once he had turned eleven, the boy had disappeared. No trace, no school, medical or dental records, and appearances of a month at most in his uncle and aunt’s house once during the summer, and out he went again, no one knew where. No one could find him.

 

After some more digging, they - and by “they” Fury was thinking about their screening process for SHIELD agents – had found out the same pattern on his mother. For his father, though, there were no records, anywhere. It was like he had never existed. Harry himself had only came to be when he was placed on his relative’s guardianship – up till then, there was nothing about the boy, no birth certificates, no shots, no hospital entrances, no pictures, nothing.

 

And then, if that wasn’t enough, there was the boy himself. With his long, ink dark hair; strange, bright green eyes; pale skin; and some sort of… energy about him, that could both innerve and calm someone down at the same time. That alone would be cause for some thinking – add to that the fact that the _boy_ , who barely looked eighteen, was supposed to have been born in 1980, meaning he was 31, almost 32 years old, and Potter was a complete puzzle, with no answers.

 

One thing was certain: he was way more than he wanted them to believe he was, and Fury was not going to let him go without finding everything about him out.

 

**So what do you guys think? Let me know!**

**R E V I E W !**

 


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’d like to take a moment to answer a review that actually brought up some points a few of you might me wondering (I’ve quoted the review itself): “I didn't really get the thing of him changing into something else or loosing his humanity. Of why it would jappen already and not after living as old as flamel” – As this is part of the plot I can’t actually tell you the whys or hows, but I can promise it will come up – probably soon – and it will be answered.  
> “It also was weird, him fleeing the wizarding world, considering it had had the flamels, supposedly immortal beings or harry could've just used glamours. I guess you just needed him out of there.”: Actually, it isn’t really. It is one thing to be a part of a world your whole life, and being known for an alchemist and then achieve your dream’s work, and become immortal through an object. Harry is immortal because he is the Master of Death. Very different from being immortal because of an elixir, which, if he would stop drinking, would make him mortal again. This is my third story in English, but I have over a hundred of them in Portuguese, and I never – ever – do something in a story just because I need it, I like for it to be some sort of explanation for everything that happens. Things that happen just because the author wanted it to is one of my main pet peeves with fiction, be it fan or original. Also, what kind of life would he have, if he’d have to live with glamours all the time, never being able to be himself?  
> Also I would like to apologize for taking so long to update again – my old notebook was kind of falling apart, and I was putting the new one up to speed these last few days. And before I forget, there are a few mentions in here about the hidden scene in Thor, the one with Loki and Erik, and Fury.  
> One more thing, and PLEASE READ THIS ONE NOTE: I’ve watched the Avengers, and I’m keeping it to its canon – mostly. The only thing is, the whole story of the movie goes by in a day or two, and that’s waaaaay too fast, so here’s what I’m doing: I’m keeping most of the plot (its main ideas, at least), but I’m taking longer to make things happen. For example, let’s say, Loki taking over the world – it won’t happen the second he comes to Earth, it’ll take longer.  
> Now, on with the story!

**HURRICANE**

**CHAPTER THREE**

_Hatred is a powerful thing, but it can’t drive you further than where you are willing to go._

_And for revenge on every single one who had ever lied or deceived him, he was willing to go far. Further than he had ever thought possible._

_That was the reason he accepted the allies he had accepted._

_Revenge._

**X**

Harry thought about Fury’s proposal, and then he thought and thought and thought some more, and decided to accept it. He simply wasn’t ready to accept defeat – not yet. While there was any chance at all that he could find Sirius in any dimension he wouldn’t give up.

That, and he wanted to stay close to Erik.

Maybe it was his old saving people thing, as Hermione had so aptly called it many years ago, or maybe it was some sort of sense of obligation towards the man who had lost so much in the past few months, or perhaps it was just this intense feeling that he should remain where he was, he ended up deciding to accept Fury’s offer.

The next morning, there Harry was, in the weird platform SHIELD’s hovercraft stayed, its main office, where Erik was working with the Tesseract. He didn’t exactly need to tell Fury of his decision – when he showed up in the main bridge, the man simply nodded at him, and sent him on his way to Doctor Selvig.

Harry was an early riser, he had been forced to be one if he didn’t wish to have a very rude and unwelcome wake-up call by Petunia, and the habit of waking up early had never really left him - he had expected Fury to be at SHIELD at barely six in the morning, he had a strong suspicion the man never slept, but he was fairly surprised to see Erik there, working away as if he had never left.

“Erik?” Harry called softly, trying to get the man’s attention without startling him and failing miserably when the man jumped in place and stopped muttering to himself.

“Harry! What are you doing here? Haven’t you gone home yet?” he asked somewhat strangely, dabbing his forehead with a Kleenex and glancing at the Tesseract every few seconds.

“I have. What about you? Haven’t you gone home?”

“Not really, no. I just feel… we are so close, Harry. We’re almost there, we’re almost getting to understand this thing, I feel as if I can almost grasp it.”

“Erik, you need to sleep. Not only because you do need your rest, but because a single mistake with this Tesseract could mean a setback of months in your project.” Erik, however, wasn’t listening to him, gazing away at the Tesseract. Harry decided to change the subject, “My work on the bridges has reached a stalemate, I can’t go any further without something else, and Fury asked me to come work with you, if that’s alright with you, of course.”

“Yes, yes, Fury told me that last night. And you _are_ right of course, I do need to rest. It’s just so… _frustrating_.” he said, gazing at the Tesseract intensely, as if he was personally offended by it “I feel as if I know all the answers to manipulate it, but can’t quite grasp them.”

“Maybe it’s because you haven’t slept in over 24 hours.” Harry suggested with a smile that Erik took a few seconds to answer in kind.

“You are right. Come with me, I’ll show you a few of the preliminary studies you can read to try and understand what I’m doing. Maybe you are the breath of fresh air we need in this project. An outside look, so to speak.”

Erik opened the door, and left the Tesseract room, Harry observing him keenly – the doctor suddenly looked as if he could breathe again, his face took on a less panicked look, his smile less strained and more genuine.

“You said your and Jane’s work reached a stalemate? How?” he finally asked, looking terribly concerned, as if he had only just registered what Harry had said earlier.

“We can’t open a bridge without the other side. I don’t know how Thor and his people did it, I don’t know how it happened when I lost my godfather, but I can’t seem to replicate it. My hope is that with the energy the Tesseract is supposed to produce, we can force a way into it… But even then I’m not sure. Anyway, show me what I’m supposed to study so I can work with you, and you don’t have to be so sleep deprived anymore.”

Erik laughed and took Harry to his files, putting him up to date with what he had to know, promising to explain the rest to Harry when he came back.

“I thought I would have to drag him out of that room and chain him to bed myself some time soon.” Fury said from behind Harry, looking at Erik, who was leaving.

“He takes his work very seriously.” was Harry’s only answer before he simply went to the Tesseract room, to study and watch the strange source of power.

There was something… different with Erik when he was near that thing, Harry realized, he looked a bit obsessed, if not crazed, as if he was on a deadline to make it work but couldn’t. Erik always took his work seriously, he knew that, not only for having worked with the man, and seeing him work, but from everything Jane had told him about her father-figure, but not to that extreme. It wasn’t Fury who was rushing Erik either – then what was it?

Harry came closer to the object, placed in a sort of pedestal and connected to all sorts of machines to register what it did at all times, but all it seemed to do was emanate that strange sort of power, constantly, vibrating through the room and through Harry himself. He itched to touch it, feel it close to his hand, but he definitely shouldn’t do it when anyone could see it – he was absolutely sure Fury was observing him at all times. Actually, he was sure that if he had chosen not to come back to SHIELD _,_ and abandon his work with the Einstein-Rosen Bridge, Fury would hunt him down and arrest him.

It wasn’t like Harry didn’t know he was all kinds of weird, working in a place where weird either meant you had to put your life on the line every time something bad happened, or you were trouble waiting to happen.

The thing was, Harry was neither. He did not want to be a hero – a good part of why he had left the Wizarding World behind – neither did he have any inclination to become a villain. Most villains were obsessed with the not dying part of having power, and he already had that, even if he didn’t want it. Besides, his magic was finally settling down after over a decade of being crazy.

It wasn’t his normal-wizard kind of magic anymore, but it was his, and he could accept that – somewhat. He could feel things around him. People’s feelings, their sense of dread or fear, their negative emotions more than anything else, he could also feel peace – the deep peace of those who were perfectly okay with their lives – but those were few and far between. Mostly, he felt people’s trepidation, anxiousness, fear: the emotions Hermione had theorized, in one of their most recent chats, were related to death itself. She was keen to think that, if Harry wanted, he could kill someone, or make them feel as if they were dying. She also thought, by Harry’s impressions and feelings around people, that Harry would be able to tell exactly when or how someone would die, if he wished to.

As he had no desire whatsoever to become Trelawney, he refrained from ever trying it, but it did raise a question: he _loathed_ those abilities, as they had come to the loss of his very self, he hated to think he could kill someone just because he wanted to, or that he had the power to dictate if someone should die or not – therefore, _why_ him? Why Harry, just Harry, the boy who only ever wanted to be normal, had those scary, crazy abilities? Why not someone who was wise and would know how to use them, or someone who was merciless and wouldn’t be afraid of using them?

And that was the other theory from Hermione: the Deathly Hallows had passed by many a hand ever since they had been created – if by Death itself or by some very powerful necromancer was anyone’s guess – but not even once, not ever, had it truly chosen a Master.

But then again, Harry did not seek to be their Master. Harry didn’t want that power, he wouldn’t seek to destroy anyone with what he had, as someone merciless would do; he wouldn’t dare think he was capable of deciding who should live or die, as someone who thought themselves wise would think. He was the perfect Master for Death because he was one of the very few people left who could actually leave life to run its natural course. He was their Master because he did not wish to be so, and therefore, Death _had_ no Master – just a companion, who would let it do what it was supposed to do. Harry himself had thought, after long hours talking to Ron and Hermione about it, that maybe the fact that he had been chosen to carry that burden was a way to free Death – he wouldn’t act upon his Mastery over it, and so, it was completely free, without the risk of someone who would actually try and use its powers came along and managed to become its Master.

He had come to accept that, after many a night denying and cursing his new powers, or the way his magic kept on changing, answering to his wishes instead of his spells, working more easily, but differently than he was used to. Hermione had said it was some sort of compensation for the headache that being the Master of Death would bring – easy magic, no need for a wand or spells.

Harry would rather have to learn everything he wanted to do than knowing he would live forever, but he was over the stage of crying and whining about it. His life was what it was, and there was nothing he could do to change it, so he focused on what he could: and if he could be the Master of Death, he could bring his Godfather back.

It took him over a week to read and understand everything Erik had done with the Tesseract, and mostly he still needed the man to fully grasp what they were supposed to do. However, with every passing day he was surer and surer there was something going on with the power source and Erik – and also something going on between Fury and Erik that he wasn’t privy to, concerning the Tesseract. It was also more and more clear that Fury’s plan for him to work with Erik had a lot more to do with the fact that he didn’t want Harry to go away, and be, therefore, out of his grasp, and less with actually having Harry help Erik – he was an Astrophysicist, not an engineer. He talked to Erik and decided to actually change his line of work a little bit – instead of working _with_ Erik, on _his_ project – something Harry wasn’t really doing, because he still had no idea what _Erik_ was really doing – he started to develop his own research with the Tesseract, not as a power source for Human Kind, but to his own bridge.

He was not afraid of hard work, and he wouldn’t give up, not until he was absolutely _sure_ there was no way to bring Sirius back.

Working with Erik meant he was in direct touch with the likes of Hawkeye and Black Widow – names he thought as ridiculous as _The Boy Who Lived_ – but he was trying to get used to them. Natasha was as quiet as she was rumored to be deadly, and Harry couldn’t, for the life of him, feel comfortable around her. Clint, on the other hand, tended to be kind, and think that Harry was that quiet because he was simply shy, and not because he genuinely didn’t like to be around other people. As it was, he still preferred their company to those of the other workers of SHIELD who didn’t like him because of his working privileges – there were some people who would have actually killed someone to work on the Tesseract Project -, or because he didn’t get involved with the other soldiers SHIELD kept. At least with Black Widow, and Hawkeye, and Erik he knew they thought of themselves as freaks too.

He wasn’t comfortable, but he was adjusting.

The more he worked with the Tesseract, the surer he was that that thing was simply not safe to be around people, and it should never have been dug out of the ocean. And the instant it started pulsing, and turning itself on again and again and every time they turned it off he mostly sighed and thought this was it.

That was the day Fury was going to find out just how truly freaky he was, and he was absolutely right.

He and Erik and a dozen others were working non-stop for hours, trying to control the pulses, to turn the thing off, or just make it stable, and they simply couldn’t. As Erik said to Fury when he started demanding answers, it was a power source, there was no turning it off – their attempts at making it subside had pretty much the same efficiency as cleaning a nuclear contaminated area with a rag and cleaning fluid. The explosion that followed was somewhat to be expected - after all, it was a _power_ source – the thing that came _with_ the explosion was not.

Clint was high up top, ready to shoot whatever came with the explosion, Erik was closer to the Tesseract, and Fury was trying to shoot the man who had come with the explosion, if a man was truly what the being was.

He was tall and thin, and he felt _angry_ , on the verge of _rage_ , but most of all he felt so very lonely, and so very sad. He felt as if he had lost everything, and all his pent-up rage was all that was left. He had magic too, an excited kind of magic, something that wanted to go everywhere, and see everything, all at once, but was terribly curbed by the anger the man was feeling – only all that anger wasn’t truly his: it was coming from the scepter he was holding.

The being wasn’t, of course, pure or good. Just the fact that Harry could feel him so accurately was the main indicative there was something very wrong with him – Harry usually could feel impressions of people’s feelings, but with the tall and thin being a few steps away, he felt as if he could read his very soul.

Harry tried mainly to stay away from the fight – he was trying to remember what Hermione had convinced him of: just because he was the Master of Death it didn’t mean he was responsible for those who were dying, or the ones who were killing, his job was to stay away from it. But when the being turned his infected scepter to Erik, Harry had to try and stop him.

Without really thinking, he made a column behind the man fall over him, but he simply side stepped it, and tried to find who was fighting him. Harry, however, was already under his Invisibility Cloak, trying to reach Erik – only Erik clearly did not wish to be near him.

Chaos ensued soon after, agents running and shooting, speeches worthy of Voldemort were being said, and when it was all over, all that was left was Harry pretending to have been hiding behind a desk the whole time, a very pissed off Fury, and Erik and Clint were gone.

Being checked for injuries, and commanded to stay aboard the hovercraft until told otherwise by Fury himself and no other, Harry sat at his desk and let his mind drift to the strange being who was so bent on rage and revenge to notice the most amazing thing that had happened to Harry ever since he had defeated Voldemort: the man’s magic had been around Harry the whole time. And unlike Harry was expecting it to, it did not try to attack him, or harm him in any way.

Quite the opposite, actually: it had welcomed him with open arms, like a greeting from an old friend.

x

**So what do you think? Good, bad, too slow, too fast?**

**R E V I E W !**

 

 

 


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! Once again, thank a LOT for your wonderful reviews, and all your alerts and favs. It means the world to me that you like this story.
> 
> Now, as I have said before, this story will follow the main points of the Avengers movie, but not its timeline, or every little thing that happens there - the discrepancies will start in this chapter, so, if the order of a few events is different, or if things turn out differently than you remember from the movie, don’t worry, it’s all on purpose.
> 
> Thanks again, and enjoy the chapter!
> 
> About the updates: I’ll promise to update at least once a week, and to try for twice when I can, but work is getting crazy, so I’m making promises I can keep. Reviews DO encourage me to write faster, though. xD

**HURRICANE**

**CHAPTER FOUR**

Fury stopped by Harry long enough to tell him he was not allowed to leave – not unless Fury himself ordered it. As Harry stared at the man’s retreating back, he was absolutely sure his boss had seen something he was not supposed to – like, for instance, Harry disappearing in a piece of fabric after having knocked down part of the structure of SHIELD.

The Tesseract room was completely falling apart – what hadn’t been destroyed by the fight was coming down because of the commotion around it, and Harry could not be there for long – but he did get in for long enough to realize there was a pattern – a certain frequency repeating itself in the air, where the Tesseract had been. Harry was not a genius, he had never been so, but every once in a while he would have a small amount of ridiculous luck that would allow him to find something amazing out. He was an Astrophysicist, of course, but he was also magical, and that pattern right there, the pattern repeating itself slower with every passing second, was the key to activate his very own bridge.

Fury told him he could not leave – he didn’t say he had to stay inactive while he was waiting for the man’s return. Going to his own research – what was left of it was way more than what was left of Dr. Selvig’s work, because that part of the research had been inside the Tesseract room, while Harry’s had a separate office to be stored in -, he started adjusting the patterns he could sense to his calculations and projections.

He could do it.

It wasn’t all physics, not by a long shot, mostly it was based on energy: the energy he himself had, and the energy he could sense in the air, floating around him, coming from the Tesseract, and, most of all, what was left of Loki’s own magic – something of cold and sad and lonely, of desperation and madness, but also of home, of rainbows in the sky, and a never ending beauty.

He could actually _feel_ Asgard as a home – not his, but Loki’s. And because Loki’s energy had forced the Tesseract to open and bring him there, through that connection, he could replicate a connection to Asgard.

In theory. He had no proof that it would work in practice, but he was not going to wait for Fury to come back to find it out, he was doing it right now.

He could, maybe, get in touch with Thor, he owed to Jane and all of her research, to her life, to do it.

And when he did it, he was going back to Britain, to get into the Veil Room, to try and sense the patterns there, and he was bringing Sirius back. Getting his computer, he headed for one of the equipment storage rooms, where all of his and Jane’s field research equipment had been brought when he accepted to come to SHIELD.

“What are you doing?” startled, he turned around, dropping several pieces of metal paraphernalia he would need to establish some sort of connection, and saw Maria Hill, Fury’s right hand woman, standing behind him.

Of course the man had left someone to watch him at all times.

“I can do it.” he said, “I’m sure I can open a bridge, force a bridge open, but I need to do it now, while I can still…” he stopped talking, realizing he was about to say ‘while I can still feel the pattern’. How was he going to explain he could _feel_ a pattern?

“Your orders are to stay put.” she said mercilessly. One could say a lot of Maria Hill, but no one could say she wasn’t the best agent Fury had.

“I was!” he answered back, struggling with the need to explain what he could now do, and the fact that there was no way in hell he could explain the whole thing to her satisfaction, “I did not leave the premises, I just… I had an insight when I saw Loki get in the Tesseract room, I know how to do it, I can do it, I have to do it.”

He was desperate and angry for the very first time in years. He had been bored and tired and extremely sad and lonely, but angry was not an emotion he had been experiencing a lot these past few years.

Suddenly the temperature in the room started going down, second by second, colder and colder.

“What you have to do is follow your orders. And your orders are to stay put until he comes back.”

Harry nearly howled in frustration. He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself and his magic down lest he destroy even more of the place they were in.

He could do it, finally, and that woman was not going to let him.

“Any idea when he’s coming back?”

“He’s trying to solve the mess the Tesseract has created. He’ll be back when he’s back.”

Who knew Maria Hill could be such a bitch?

But then again, the woman had a mission to accomplish, Fury had entrusted SHIELD to her while he was out, and that was no easy feat. Harry sighed, getting himself under control, even if he wanted to cry with frustration.

“I’ll be right here, then.” he said to Hill. When her only answer was a skeptical look, he finally lost his cool, for the first time in a decade, “Look, what do you want me to do? I just had the insight to accomplish something I’ve been working on for years, something my best – and for a long time _only_ – friend died dreaming on doing, and I have the answers, and you won’t let me do what I _know_ I can do because Fury said so – that’s fine. I understand your position. But don’t expect me to sit in some waiting room doing nothing for Merlin knows how long. I’ll be here, where I can at least research. Put some guards on the door or something.”

Hill still didn’t look convinced, but with what had happened, she certainly had more to do with her time than babysit one of their own agents. Finally she left, and Harry did the only thing he felt like doing.

He sat on the dusty floor, his elbows resting on his raised knees, and his head dropped on his hands, folded together in the space between his legs.

He was so damn close he could feel it – he could _truly_ feel it. Loki’s magic, and the tainted _something_ that was enveloping the god, something dark and evil, not quite as terrible as a Horcrux, but close.

Breathing in carefully, he could feel _safety_ in that magic.

Chaos. Wasn’t Loki the god of chaos or something similar? He couldn’t exactly remember – all he knew from Norse mythology had come from Jane, and she hadn’t been terribly worried about Loki then. About Thor, though, he knew every little detail there was to know.

Why was chaos comforting him like this? This energy felt like coming home.

Were Death and Chaos friends or something? What _were_ they, anyway?

Sighing again, he started to actually plan what he would need to make his very own Bridge happen.

He needed open space – after all, he didn’t want for the whole building to fall apart while he established the connection, and, to be perfect honest with himself, he was not very sure of what he was doing. However, if he believed in one talent he possessed it was his feeling for this sort of things. He knew he could do it.

Ideally, he would have gone back to New Mexico, to try to open the bridge there, where Thor had appeared once before. It was certainly not an option, though, Fury would not let him go there by himself, and he was not in any position to send a team along to help him, therefore, he would have to make do with any kind of open space SHIELD could provide.

That is, if he was still free and alive after Fury came back. With every passing second he was surer and surer the man had in fact seen something bad, and was making the necessary arrangements to have Harry arrested or killed.

Or at least dissected by a SHIELD scientist.

Either way, things weren’t looking good.

He must have been in that position for at least another hour when an agent tapped him on the shoulder, letting him know Fury was back, and wanted to see him in his main office.

Harry got up, and checked himself – yes, he still had his Cloak on his person, and he was fairly sure he would be able to escape with a minimum damage to the structure of the building and to the people inside it if worse came to the worst. Gathering all the courage he had, he walked to his boss’s office and knocked on the glass door, entering when Fury bid him to.

“Agent Hill informed me you were busy while I was out.” was the man’s greeting, motioning a chair for Harry, and sitting himself, keeping the glass table between them.

“Yes. I figured out how to make the bridges work. I just need open space and some of my equipment.” Harry said, daring to hope that was all the man wanted to know.

“And _how_ , Mr. Potter, did you figure such a connection out? When?”

Fury’s face was completely blank, and Harry knew his answers, any answer, would only service to incriminate him further in whatever it was Fury was thinking of accusing Harry of doing.

“I just… I just did.” he said, shrugging.

“While SHIELD agents were fighting against a supposed god, you simply had the insight of how to open your bridge?”

“Yes.” was Harry’s answer, not missing the sarcasm in the older man’s voice.

Fury stared at Harry for a very long time, before sighing, and putting his folded hands on the table.

“Let me tell you where I was, Mr. Potter, when I left here a few hours ago. First, I went to look for some help. This Loki character is not something to be taken lightly, and we need more force than our agents who, while extremely competent, are still only human. It wasn’t easy to convince him to come, but in the end he did. Agent Romanov went in search of an expert, who we are hoping can help us figure out what the Tesseract did, and Agent Coulson is currently trying to bring some more help for us. After I dispatched this team, I went to look for a few, let’s say, _obscure_ contacts. After all, after seeing one of my own agents _disappear_ into thin air, I felt I was a bit out of my depth.” Fury leaned forward, coming closer to Harry, and the wizard had to fight the urge to lean backwards, “Do you know a man by the name of Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mr. Potter?”

Harry didn’t answer. He was way more screwed then he had thought he was.

“Not answering? Ok, I’ll just continue with my story, then. Contacting this man is nearly impossible, but SHIELD protects all of the Earth, no matter how _secluded_ they think themselves. After all, we do not get to work with the likes of Doctor Strange and not end up running in with a few friends on the other side of the normal fence, so to speak, with suspicions of having one of them defect. Now, I talked to Minister Shacklebolt’s undersecretary, and he assured me they had not seen or heard of one Harry Potter for over a decade. When he disappeared. No traces left behind. Any comments on that, Harry?”

Again, Harry was left speechless. What was Fury going to do? Denounce him as a wizard, and send him back to his world? Arrest him? Surely he wouldn’t try to use Harry’s abilities to his advantage, which was, ultimately, SHIELD’s advantage – as he had said, had Strange been a real wizard, he wouldn’t have been left to the _normal_ world.

“The curious thing is, when I talked to Minister Shacklebolt himself, he said Harry had disappeared for a reason, a reason the Minister of Magical Britain himself seems to respect, because some Weasley couple told him to, and because he – unlike I – trusts you. He also said that, if I had found Harry, I should simply let him go, that Harry had, and I quote ‘ _paid his debts to their society ten times over, without having to try and defend himself for something he has no control over_ ’. Care to tell me what this is all about, Harry? Because, you see, SHILED does know about your world. How could we not, with all the mess that goes down with your people every few decades – it’s our planet too, that you were fighting over, we knew about the mess, we just couldn’t clean it up. But the thing is, when you were accepted into Jane Foster’s research team, you were tested for a wizard and came up lacking – you didn’t read as a wizard, you still don’t. But if you were a wizard, and now you are clearly not, something happened. Something made you run away from everything you knew, and start again. Why?”

Harry kept his silence, and Fury finally lost his cool.

“Potter, let me just say this one thing for you: we have a homicidal psychopath with the power of a god among us right now. I need my team together.  And I need to know there are no more threats among us. You start being difficult, you will be thrown in the middle of your world, the world you are so obviously trying to escape, with no way out again. Now tell me, what are you doing inside SHIELD? What happened to make you not magical anymore?”

Harry sighed, and raised his eyes to Fury.

“I may not be a wizard anymore, but I _am_ magical. I can’t tell you what happened, because I don’t know. I fought in our last _mess_ , as you called it, we won, and I did what I had to do, but something went wrong, and I stopped aging. My magic started changing, and now I am what I am. I’m not a wizard anymore – something I did not know myself – but I _am_ magical.” the thought that he wasn’t part of magic anymore made Harry very angry – he was _not normal_. He was not what the Dursleys had always wanted him to be, “I ran away because the Wizarding World is close minded. I was stuck in time, and they saw me as some kind of hero – how would things progress had I stayed? The Child-hero, The Boy Who Lived Forever? And in a few years, when all the good memories and gratitude started fading away, what would be left for me? I couldn’t stay there knowing – I couldn’t stay there, seeing my friends aging, and growing, and getting married and having children, and then _dying_ , knowing I would not.”

“What do you mean?” Fury was serious again, looking intently at Harry, not trusting, but not seeming keen on killing him on sight anymore, “What do you mean with _knowing you would not_?”

“I can’t die.” he said simply, not offering any other explanation.

“You can’t die.” Fury repeated, raising an eyebrow.

“I haven’t actually gone suicidal to try and kill myself, but I had a few close calls, and I just… _know_. I can’t die. That’s why my magic is different, and, apparently, I’m not a wizard anymore.”

“Why?” fury enquired again, and Harry sighed exasperatedly.

“Because I’m the Master of Death.” He said in a defying tone, crossing his arms over his chest, and Fury apparently knew when to give up, because he didn’t bring the topic again.

It was funny that he had given up when Harry was telling him the truth, but Harry was not counting his blessings.

“Why the bridges, then?” the older man asked, making Harry sigh once again.

“My godfather passed away when I was fifteen. He died in a veil which I now suspect is some sort of bridge between this world and the next. I spent _years_ studying Jane’s work so that I could work with her, to try and open a bridge, and to try to bring him back.”

Fury considered him for a long moment, before speaking again.

“Are you sure you can open the bridge that will lead us to Thor and not to wherever Loki came from?”

“Yes. I can… the insight I had, it came from Loki. I could… _feel_ his magic. It’s all Asgard. It’s his home, the place he longs to be, the one thing he thinks about, when he’s not trying to take over the Earth, that is. I can open a bridge to Asgard, or at least let them know we need their help to open it all the way – I know I can do it.”

Finally they were getting where Harry wanted them to – to the bridges, his dream’s work, and not a past he didn’t want anything from anymore.

“I have a proposal for you, Harry.” Fury said, and Harry instantly started shaking his head, getting up.

“No.”

“You haven’t heard it yet, how can you deny it?”

“You want me to work with your special team to defeat Loki, and I’m not doing it.”

“How do you know that is what I want?”

“Sir, I’ve been around people trying to use me all my life. Sure, they were way better at it, and they actually cared about me, and I have long since forgiven them, but I sure as hell haven’t forgotten. I know what it looks like, and it looks like you want me to fight your battles for you, and I’m not doing it. I want to open the bridge and find Thor. For Jane. He deserves to know what happened to her, so that he can honor her, and mourn her, and then I want to go back to Britain and try to bring my godfather back. And that’s it. I’m no hero.”

“You could be.”

“I don’t _want_ to.”

“You could help the human race fight against monsters. You would have help. Harry, at this right moment, we have Ironman, Bruce Banner, Captain America and the Black Widow in this very place. We can try to rescue Hawkeye. Don’t you want to help to rescue Clint? I thought he was your friend.”

“No, he isn’t. I don’t have friends.”

“Since when?”

“Since they die and I don’t.”

Fury smiled then.

“When, then all you have to do is meet some new people, because they are incredibly resistant.”

“No!”, he said, pacing back and forth in the small office, “I don’t want to be a part of your special team, that’s not why I’m here. I don’t want to, and you can’t make me.”

Fury was silent again, and after a few moments, Harry stopped walking and stared at the man, who was staring right back at him.

“I hate to do this, but we _need_ your help. I’ll give you the green light in your bridges. I’ll even lend you any support and assistance you need when you go back to England, after this mess is sorted – _if_ you agree to help us. Otherwise, I’ll be obligated to inform the British where you are, and why you are here, and why you ran away.”

“You just said Kingsley himself told you to leave me alone.” Harry answered through gritted teeth, seething in anger.

“Him? Yes. But the press? I think they’ll have a field day.”

“And how is that any different from what would happen if I agreed to help you? The whole world would know!” he almost screamed in his exasperation.

“We can protect your identity.”

“Oh, yeah, because you did a great job at that with Tony Stark.”, he answered sarcastically, sitting back down, and putting his head on his hands.

“Stark is a case apart. He chose to turn his identity public by himself. We could not help what he did.” he stopped talking, and Harry raised his head to see the man kneeling in front of him, “Harry, _we need your help_. The whole world does it. Are you going to turn your back on us?”

And it was in that moment Harry knew his nightmare was coming true: he was completely screwed, because how exactly was he supposed to say no to that?


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU again for your wonderful reviews and alerts and favs! You're amazing.
> 
> Now, for those of you who seemed a bit displeased with a few things from the last chapter: guys, how about you wait for the things you wouldn't like to happen to actually, you know, happen, before you start complaining about them?
> 
> Patience, people.
> 
> And someone mentioned they thought Harry would be over Sirius by now, because it's been a long time – well, I don't know about you, but even if I'm not mourning for those I've loved and have passed away daily, if I had a way of bringing them back, I would try it. I would be desperate to do it, actually.
> 
> And on with the chapter!

**HURRICANE**

**CHAPTER FIVE**

If there was one thing Thor had never learned how to deal with was frustration. Even when he was trapped on Midgard he had been able to  _do_  things, try to solve his problems, even if in completely unsuccessful ways. The only moment he had actually faced frustration was when he had not been able to lift Mjölnir from that rock – and even that moment had been clouded by the complete and utter sadness that came with the realization he was not good enough, so frustration had taken a second place.

Now, he was trapped in Asgard. He loved his home, his parents and friends, the people over whom he would, one day, rule, but he wanted to return to Earth, to  _Jane_. He needed to see her again. He had never felt such intense feelings for another before, not quite like this, and he needed to see her – and yet he could not. Jane was on Midgard, and without the Bifrost he could not cross to see her again.

He was not Loki; he could not travel between the realms with no help from the bridge.

And right there was his second source of frustration – for weeks on end he had mourned his brother. His mother and father had been devastated - his mother, even if she would never say it out loud, blamed Odin for their son falling off that bridge, and it was putting a strain on the whole realm. Frigga was the support and stability of their kingdom. If she was unhappy, the whole realm could feel it too. And then, after months of worrying and suffering, Heimdall had caught a glimpse of Loki – and now Thor had been forced to bear the thought that his own brother was alive and trying to destroy Earth, and he was not able to go there, to stop him, and bring him home, where he belonged.

Heimdall had stopped watching for Jane when Loki had appeared – his brother was tricky, and tracing his steps was no easy feat, Heimdall needed his focus solely in this task, and not watching for Thor's love on Midgard. She was safe.

It was all that mattered.

Odin was working on a way to send Thor to Midgard, if only to stop Loki and bring him back – what Thor's lost love and broken heart over the human woman had not done the prospect of seeing his son again had accomplished: the Allfather had finally devised a way to put him back on Earth, but it might still take a while, as their connection to Midgard had been lost along with the Bifrost.

The fact he knew they were missing half the connection to Midgard was what made him react so surprised when his father called him to the very brink of the old Rainbow Bridge to tell him they were ready – they had found a connection to Midgard, and it had actually  _come from_  Midgard, which could mean only one thing: Jane had found a way to bring him back to her.

Smiling, Thor embraced his mother first, who had tears on her eyes, as if afraid to let him go; and then embraced his father.

"Bring your brother home safely, my son." Odin whispered, before letting Thor go. Nodding in understanding, the God let Odin's power wash over him, and down and down he went, through the realms known to his people, back to Earth, to Midgard, and, he hoped, to Jane.

**X**

"No." was all Harry said, staring at Fury, who was still kneeling in front of him, "I won't turn my back on anyone, but I'm not a part of your team."

Fury sighed and got on his feet, staring at Harry, as if waiting for an explanation.

"I can't  _fight_ , sir. I can't die, but that is not a power. I'm no super hero, I don't have any special powers, you yourself said, I'm not a normal wizard anymore. I can't do anything to help."

Which was a complete lie, but after years away from the Wizarding World, he was getting quite good at them.

"Harry, Natasha or Clint aren't super heroes either, and yet…"

"And yet they are  _trained assassins_. Trained people. Even Hill is a trained agent. I'm no such thing. I'm no soldier, I'm a researcher. I'm an astrophysicist. I can – and want to – help you. I will build what I can of the bridge to bring Thor back to you –  _he_  is a fighter, and a God, and the brother of the guy who is your problem now, so he can only help. And I want to help whatever specialist you brought to try and figure out what Loki did to the Tesseract, I think I can actually make a difference, as the guy was using the thing as a portal, and that's what I spent years of my life studying, but I'm not a soldier, and no amount of cheap appealing to my feelings or my soft side is going to change that."

Fury actually seemed to consider him for a few moments, before nodding and telling him to start building his half of the bridge right away – he wanted Harry ready for when the other  _specialists_  arrived, so they could work together on understanding how Loki used – and was probably planning to keep using – the power source.

Harry wasn't sure if the SHIELD's leader had believed him or not – probably not, but the guy had sense enough to recognize a lost fight when he saw one. Harry may look young, but he wasn't seventeen anymore, he was not going to be pushed around to do someone's dirty work, this was not what he was there for.

Of course he wouldn't leave until he knew Erik was safe and sound again – he owed that to Jane and Erik himself, not because he felt guilty about it, but because he  _could help_. He didn't want to be some super hero, but he wasn't a coward either. He would stay and help the way he had planned to, and if Fury couldn't live with that, he'd steal the equipment he needed for the bridge, and run away.

Not very Gryffindorish of him, but he was not about to become a soldier – that was not what he wanted for his life.

He went to a field SHILED owned for testing, just a few miles away from the central basis of operation. His equipment was all in a small jeep, and two agents were coming along with him – to help him, said Fury, but it was actually to try and stop him from running, and Fury knew he knew it. But he was playing along, because, honestly, it was simply easier like that. He was supposed to go to SHIELD's helicarrier after he was done. He was planning to actually do that, as it was easier to help if he was with them.

Building the structure for the bridge wasn't all that difficult once they had figured the basic calculus out – the frequencies, however, the  _energy_  that was supposed to flow through it, at which speed, and how much of it, and, mainly, how to  _control_  such energy was what had stopped them before. That was what he had found out they needed the day he had talked to Fury: he needed an equal frequency, the same amount and speed and quality of energy as the place they would try to open the bridge to, and they did not have that resonance – up until the minute Harry had felt Loki's energy, and how it all felt like _Asgard_.

Like home.

It took him a bit over two hours to set up his equipment, and then, well, then he had to truly work his magic on the whole thing, and he couldn't exactly let the guards Fury had sent along see him do that, now could he?

Swiftly, a small amount of his own magic left his body, enveloping both guards and their guns, and they fell asleep, falling down. Carefully, Harry levitated them inside the jeep, closing the doors, but keeping the windows open for ventilation. He would deal with their memories later, when he knew the bridge would work.

That's what he meant with the whole thing about feeling the energy, and his magic changing – it simply did what he wanted it to do. He wanted them asleep, so he didn't need to take out a wand and say a spell: no jets of lights, no bright signs that there was something going on. It just happened, because he wanted it, and he let his magic do what he wanted it to do.

When he realized what was happening, at the beginning, even before he had decided to study Jane's work, he was truly and properly scared – what if in a moment of anger or sadness he decided he wanted to kill someone, and his magic simply obeyed? He spent an enormous amount of time trying to gain control and balance his magic, and finally, it started to settle down – and only a few months ago he had actually started to feel comfortable with it again. It was about that time he noticed he wasn't changing anymore – not aging, but not getting any weirder than he already was.

He had settled, as if he was a cake, and was finally cooked.

That was the analogy Ron had made when Harry had told them about the settling of his magic, and, honestly, it worked.

He was cooked, and ready for consumption.

And when he had finally accepted that, he had gone and made friends. And she had died.

And he swore he wouldn't make that mistake again.

Concentrating on what he had to do  _now_ , he stopped reminiscing, and started to feed his own energy to the whole apparatus he had set up around him, trying to vibrate it in the same frequency he had felt for Asgard, coming from Loki.

And after a while, how long he could not say exactly, he had felt a small hum of acknowledgement, a slight change in the frequency, as if he had caught a station on the radio, and had finally fine-tuned it. They could hear him perfectly, and were now sending the frequency back.

Hours could have passed, and he stood there, hoping beyond hope they would get the message, they would understand what it meant, and that Thor would be the one to come to him – for a few seconds, he started getting really nervous: what if he had done something wrong, and he was actually bringing the wrong people down the Earth? What if he was making a serious mistake, and could not close that bridge again? His studies had pointed to a complete collapse of the whole  _universe_  in case the thing stayed open for long.

He could be well bringing the end of the universe with this, and all because he had decided to trust his instincts and some energy that left his magic feeling all…  _tingly_.

Was he mad?

He hadn't even made all the necessary calculations, if Hermione were there, she would skin him alive!

And then, right when he had decided he was insane for doing this, for hoping everything would fall into place just because he needed it to, thunder started to crack all over the clearing he was in. It was a thunderstorm, raging, non-stopping and deafening, roaring through the skies, and Harry let go of his own small attempt at controlling a bridge, because he knew he wouldn't need it anymore – his called had been answered.

Thunder still resounded around him, along with a column of sand going up in tunnels, spiraling out of control, and Harry had to close his eyes to avoid getting blind. He actually kneeled on the sand, putting his arms around his head, trying to avoid getting caught in the rage of the wind and thunder around him.

And then, with the mighty  _crack_  of something big falling on the ground, it all stopped. The bridge was closed – and something had come to Erath in it.

Unfastening his arms, and raising his head slowly, he could see a lot of red – a cape.

Under the cape there was an armor, silver and glittering in the sun that had come back after all the thunder; and in the armor, there was a man – or something who looked a  _lot_  like a man.

He was tall, and big, and muscled, and Harry swallowed thickly when he eyed the huge golden hammer he carried in one of his hands easily – if this was not Thor or someone friendly, he was in serious trouble, because he didn't think he could get away from someone that  _huge_  fast enough.

Finally he got up, slowly, noticing the newcomer was looking intently at him too. Looking into his eyes, he discovered they were blue, an intense blue, with small laugh lines around them. His energy reeked of happiness and kindness and playfulness the same way his brother's smelled of sadness and longing.

And both of them tasted of  _Asgard_.

The stranger tilted his head to the side a little, in an innocent and curious gesture, and finally, he spoke.

"You are not Jane."

Well, wasn't he a perspicacious little god?

**X**

Travelling through realms was not fun or easy, even if this time he was not in complete shock over what was happening like his first travel to Midgard. The usual and expected thunder and lightning came along his descent, and Thor prepared to land roughly on the ground, noticing on his way down there was something of metal, and a human near it.

He had been right – there was someone waiting for him there.

Landing, as he had expected, roughly, and managing to keep his balance, Thor kneeled to absorb the impact, and rose in a fluid single movement. Looking around, he noticed there was no one to see his perfect landing, because the only alive being around was crouched behind the metal structure he suspected had been acting like a bridge until a few seconds ago, and said being was, Thor found out upon inspection - coming around the metal piece -, kneeling on the floor, with his arms locked around his head protectively.

The being was not human, he could feel that as certainly as this was Midgard. All he could see was dark hair and hands, and a small form, smaller than Jane even, certainly smaller than him. This creature had some sort of  _magic_  around him, something he had felt before, or something very similar to what he had felt before, in his own brother, but not quite as malicious, and at the same time, not quite as  _fun_.

He was not a god, though, and certainly not Asgardian, but most of all, the being was not human.

Slowly, he started to lower his hands, and before he was even standing, his eyes were locked with Thor's – green eyes, luminescent green eyes, like jewels or stars, or the shade of green he would see glittering on the Rainbow Bridge occasionally. Those were not the eyes of a common being or an ordinary human. His skin was so very pale it was translucent, and his hair was as dark as Loki's – the deepest black, so dark it seemed to absorb the light around it just as his skin seemed to reflect it.

Standing, the boy – for he  _looked_  like a boy, no matter what race he belonged to - barely reached his shoulders, and he was… well, there was no other word for it, he was  _beautiful_.

But he was not Jane.

"You are not Jane." came out of his mouth before he could control himself, and he could see the boy look guilty and amused, all at once.

"No, I am not. You are Thor."

His voice was soft and deep, full of sadness and regret, and Thor felt the urge to wipe that tone away from his voice. He nodded, and watched as the boy seemed to think of something to say.

"You have not told me your name."

"I'm Harry." the boy –  _Harry_  – replied, with a small smile that Thor answered in kind, having no way to help the fact he was enchanted by the being in front of him.

"When the bridge opened, when it called, I was expecting Jane to be here." he said, coming closer to Harry, and looking at him cautiously. Did he not know Jane? Maybe he was her helper, or perhaps a colleague? Maybe they were trying to open the bridge together, and she had gotten away?

"She would have loved to be here. All she's ever wanted ever since you disappeared was to bring you back."

There it was again, the longing and regret, the sadness, the guilt.

"What happened? Where is Jane? Why is she not here?" his tone finally giving away some of his frustration and maybe a bit of anger at not knowing.

And then Harry's green eyes met his, and he could see tears flooding them, until he blinked and a single tear made its way upon his cheek.

"She is dead."

And that was when Thor found out that a single sentence could cause more pain than all of your enemies and war wounds put together.

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

**HURRICANE**

**CHAPTER SIX**

Harry did not know what to do. That in and of itself was not an uncommon occurrence in Harry's life, since he was mostly socially awkward when he was growing up – due to the Dursleys having everyone believing he was some sort of terrible criminal from a very early age – and then, when he was a teen, just because he  _was_  a teen, and being awkward always comes with that particular stage of life. Add to that his status as a savior, or a maniac, and later as a near-Saint, and the feeling of not knowing what to do around people was pretty much something Harry had always known.

This, however, was nowhere near any of the past situations, when the not knowing merely made him shy, or awkward, or embarrassed. This was the kind of moment where he actually wanted to reach out and hug the man –  _God?_ – in front of him, to try and comfort him, and he did not know how, he did not think he should do that. Not only because he had known Thor for a total of five minutes, if that long, but also because he felt so very guilty about everything.

So that was where he decided to start.

"I am so,  _so_  sorry. I should have… I could… I'm sorry I couldn't protect her better, that I couldn't bring her back, that I wasn't… I'm sorry" he babbled, tears running down his face in a way he didn't even try to stop. He hadn't cried when Jane had died, in her funeral, or when she had been buried. He hadn't shed a single tear, because the only ones who seemed to be actually feeling anything were Darcy and Erik, and they were silent, and distant, and he didn't think he had the right to be crying when they were not.

But Thor looked on the verge of a break down, and Harry just couldn't take it. His best friend was dead, and this man right in front of him was her one dream – and now he was here, and yet she was not.

Jane, who was human and belonged to Earth was not present, while Thor, a God, a mythical entity, a being from another dimension was there, standing right in front of him.

"I am so sorry" he whispered again, and Thor's blue eyes turned on him, a little colder. Harry actually shivered in fear, but held his ground.

He supposed he deserved whatever was going to be thrown at him by the god of Thunder.

"Did you kill her?" Thor asked, and Harry shook his head, his eyes looking for Thor's for a moment, before they looked down again, "What happened?" the god asked again, his voice rough and strangled, his own tears making an appearance in his eyes, but not falling, "Who took her? Why didn't SHIELD defend her? The last time I knew of her, she was being protected", his voice sounded betrayed now, as if he was thinking himself as a fool for believing what someone had told him.

"She was. She was working for SHIELD. When Darcy went to work somewhere else, and Erik left to work in SHIELD's New York office I stayed with her, we worked together to bring you back, to make the bridge, but they always took care of her, nobody took her, it was… it was an accident", Harry closed his eyes, thinking back to the day he had seen Jane fallen on that street, the sound of the horns from the cars, the flashlights on the police car and the ambulance, the 'I'm sorrys' being said over and over, the desperation of the man who had actually hit her, everything came back to him in that second, "She went to the bank, and was crossing a street, and a car didn't stop at the traffic lights. She was hit, and it was… they said she… they said she did not suffer. It was too much of an impact. It was an accident, and I'm so sorry I didn't take better care of her. I should have…"

But he didn't finish saying what he should have done, because he felt a hand on his shoulder, and those blue eyes marred with tears that did not fall were looking at him intently, and he could not, for the life of him, look away.

"It was not your fault. Do not blame yourself for something you could not have foreseen or undone" his voice was still rough and the tears were still there, not falling, but more and more in his eyes, and yet, for the first time since she had died, Harry actually  _believed_  he was not at fault. Ron and Hermione and Erik and Darcy had said that to him a thousand times before.  _It's not your fault_ , and he couldn't bring himself to believe them.

And yet, this unknown being in front of him had only said it once and he could feel lighter. He was not to blame.

And he believed it.

"Thank you" he whispered then, and Thor nodded and backed away. He turned his back at Harry, who let the bigger man compose himself, giving him a few minutes for himself before he actually did what he was supposed to do: bring him to the helicarrier, where other heroes and scientists were going to be waiting for him to save the world from his brother.

That would be a cheerful topic.

Harry started to dismantle his equipment, and thinking about what he was going to do with the SHIELD agents in the jeep. Also, how would he explain to Thor that the guards were sleeping? Would he believe him, could he lie?

Did he  _want_  to?

A few minutes passed, and Harry felt more than saw Thor coming back to his metal bridge, looking at Harry for a few moments, before choosing to help him without further questions, picking metal pieces up as if they were paper, and dismantling things with an ease that should be disconcerting, but was not – not to Harry.

"I am assuming you had another reason for calling the way you did" Thor said after a few moments, looking briefly at Harry before looking down again, at a piece of metal and equipment, as if he was ashamed of his red eyes, still trimmed with tears.

"I… I work for SHIELD, but just because I wanted to build a bridge. I promised Fury I'd try and get you here because of Loki."

Thor gave him a nod, his face closing off a bit in a strange manner, as if guilt and regret and rage and sadness were warring and he could not decide which one he should feel.

"I though as much. We knew what he was doing, parts of what he has been doing. The Allfather was working on a way to send me here. To bring him home. Your bridge did speed things, however, and for that, I must thank you, Harry."

Harry merely nodded back and looked around. With Thor's help, all of the equipment had been dismantled, and now he had to pack it all up in the jeep – and wake the guards up. And probably implant false memories in them.

He eyed Thor nervously for a second, could he lie to him? Enchant him? Could he mess around the god's head, would he notice, was he immune?

Did he want to taint his relationship with the man from the beginning, by lying and deceiving him?

He did not.

But what was he going to do?

"I'm… I'm supposed to bring you back to the helicarrier – the place where they are trying to solve the puzzle of what Loki has done" he said hesitantly, and Thor nodded.

"I shall go, but my brother's mess is my responsibility alone. I will take it fully, I will find him, and bring him to Asgard, where he will respond to Asgard justice. What he has done…"

"It wasn't him" Harry said without thinking, but he would not let Thor believe that whatever would happen next – and he knew it wasn't good – was entirely his brother's fault, when Harry knew it wasn't.

"What do you mean, Harry?" Thor asked, again tilting his head to the side, "I am not fully informed of the problem my brother has caused, but we did know he was up to no good in whatever he was doing."

"And when you get to SHIELD Fury will tell you he kidnapped two of our team members, injured several others, and possibly killed some of them, but it was not him. Not him alone."

Harry by now had stopped packing things, and was looking at Thor, who had stared down until Harry's last sentence, and then his head raised sharply, looking at Harry in confusion.

"Do you mean to say he had help?"

"No. I'm saying he didn't do it. He wasn't… I'm…" he sighed, exasperatedly, and threw all caution to the wind, because honestly, it was the only way he knew how to work, "Can you keep a secret? I know we have not known each other, but…"

"Jane trusted you. She would not have let you near her work had she not, I know that much. And so I trust you too, and if you say something must remain a secret, it shall be so until you yourself say otherwise"

Harry took a deep breath, feeling overwhelmed at the intensity of Thor's gaze and the amount of his trust. Looking directly into his eyes, Harry tried to explain to him what he meant about his brother.

"I am not an ordinary human. Fury would probably go as far as saying I am not human anymore, and I'm not sure I am. I'm not sure  _what_  I am anymore. I used to be a… a wizard. They have a separated community from the normal humans, but something happened to me there, and I changed into, well, this" he said a bit unsurely, waving at himself a bit disgruntledly in a way that made Thor smile a little bit, "And whatever changed in me, it made me more sensitive towards many things, one of them being magic itself around us, and the  _feeling_  people have which is unique to them" he made a pause, to make sure Thor was at least following his explanation of something he himself did not understand fully, "I was there when Loki attacked to get the Tesseract. I was there when he took Erik and Clint, and the feeling around him, it was all  _wrong_. He possesses a lot of magic, and it's chaos, it's fun and it's excitement, it's as if he can't get enough of whatever is happening around him, and it is cold and hard and powerful, but it is not tainted. What I felt around him was suppressing his own magic. It was as if… as if he was being possessed, controlled by something other than himself."

Thor stared at him for a long minute, before he tried to talk, to make sense of what Harry was trying to tell him.

"You mean to tell me my brother did nothing wrong? That he is being completely controlled by something else?" his voice was skeptical, and Harry shook his head.

"No. It was him, he wasn't being controlled to the point where he didn't know what he was doing, but he has something else  _making_  him do what he has done and will do. It's as if the  _potential_  for what he has done was always there, but he never meant to use it, and this…  _thing_  is waking it up, and stirring it, and he obeys."

Thor was trying to digest this, but from his point of view, if whatever Harry was telling him was true, it was better than he could have expected – as long as Loki was being forced or coerced he could be forgiven.

"Fury will not believe me, especially because I don't want him to know about my, well, powers. He doesn't know what I can do, and I don't want him to find out, because he will use me, and I don't want that. But he is your brother, you have a right to know this about him, lest you blame him for something that is not entirely his fault" Harry said the last sentence in a rush, and started dragging several pieces of equipment towards the jeep, "Fury will try to have you go and defeat your brother, while what you actually have to do is  _save_  him" he finished and walked away, embarrassed because he was feeling so strongly about thins, when he knew Thor for about one hour, and had only seen Loki for about ten minutes.

"Thank you, Harry" he answered, and Harry looked behind him to see Thor bringing more of his equipment with him, having a small smile on his face, "Your secret is safe with me."

Harry smiled back and opened the back door of the jeep feeling much better than he had since this morning.

The smile completely fell off his face when he saw the two guards he had completely forgotten about sleeping away on the jeep floor.

"About that… could you not mention this to Fury either?" he asked of Thor with an awkward smile, and the god of thunder did something he had not believed he would ever do again when he heard the news about Jane.

He laughed.

**x**

Harry was not completely relaxed as they let the guards drive them back to the helicarrier – both of them fully believing they had been awake and aware the whole time Harry had worked on the bridge, going so far as believing they had tried to call Fury several times, but the bridge frequency had stopped them from actually having the call go through.

Thor, Harry soon realized, was not afraid or distrustful of him – in fact, if anything, he seemed interested, and in a few moments, in awe of what Harry could do. It was strange to have someone look at him like that, being able to  _feel_  someone feeling that way about him. Of course Ron and Hermione, the only two people he actually kept in touch with from the Wizarding World, accepted him, but it wasn't something that came easily – they knew him enough to know he wouldn't abuse his powers, or do things he should not do, but it was a kind of acceptance that came with years of knowing him, and it was mostly based on a sort of 'oh, only you, Harry' than, well, awe, or enchantment.

Darcy, Erik and Jane had been aware that there was something not normal about him, but they did not know what it was, and they cautiously accepted him. He didn't know how they would feel about his powers, because they had not seen them, but Thor had – Thor had seen him wiping away a few hours of memories from the two guards, and putting new memories there, and he was not scared or afraid or running away.

In truth, he was actually curious, and asking Harry if he thought his powers would work on him – pure curiosity and acceptance.

Fury might as well be telling him the truth: he did need to meet new people. And if they all could accept him as Thor did, then he might be in the right place. While they were driving through the busy roads that led them to their final destination, Harry couldn't stop himself from laughing just a little about what he was doing – he had told Fury he didn't want to help, he didn't want to be a part of his little team, and there he was, actually considering it.

For all the wrong reasons, but he was.

Living with Natasha and Cling had actually gave him a sense of comfort, just a little bit of  _belonging_  somewhere for the first time ever since his powers started changing on him, so many years ago – but Romanov and Barton were still humans. Humans with amazing skills and talent, but humans.

But Thor was not – he wasn't just a  _freak_  as Harry used to think about himself, he was actually someone with powers and strength, and he was using them for the good of his own people and the people of the Earth. He was… he was the closest thing to someone similar to himself as Harry had had in a very, very long time. And he could accept that Thor was not unnatural, or a freak of nature, or that he did not belong anywhere, for Thor did – and that knowledge actually helped him see he could belong somewhere too. He didn't have to be alone. He could have hope.

And he only knew the man for about two hours.

They arrived at the helicarrier, and the two guards left them with Hill, who led them into the main offices of the structure without saying a word. Harry didn't know if that was a good or a bad sign, so he followed them in silence, Thor trailing after Harry and Maria and looking around curiously, as if trying to take in all the technology and beeping screens at once.

Fury looked, in a word, pissed. Harry actually cowared a little bit, and hid behind Hill while he could. At the furthest corner from Fury's office he could see the glass walls of a mini-lab, where three men seemed to be talking about something or other. The chief of SHIELD took a single look at Thor, who looked amused at Harry's apparent fear, and nodded to Hill, who left without needing further prompting.

"Well, Mr. Potter, can you explain to me what happened, and why my agents didn't check with me every half hour as they were ordered?"

Harry sighed.

"Well, as they will tell you in their debriefing, sir, the frequency from the bridge didn't allow their phones to work properly. They could have called, but then the bridge would not have worked, and between the two, I thought that bringing Thor here was more important then you babysitting me."

Thor actually laughed again at this, and Harry had a small smile on his face – relieved beyond words that Thor didn't seem about to tell Fury the truth -, which he tried to hide – any amount of information in Fury's hands was trouble, and if he caught wind of Harry's recent affection for Thor, he would use that in some way.

Fury finally directed his attention to the god before him, welcoming him to Earth and offering him peace and cooperation in trying to arrest his brother. At his phrasing, Thor looked at Harry, and they knew, at that moment, that they would be the only ones who would want to save Loki, and not kill or imprison him.

And Harry also knew he had no way of backing away now, he was personally involved, for whatever reason he could not pinpoint. He just could not bear the thought of leaving Thor to deal with this mess alone, and couldn't even imagine the possibility of leaving Loki behind, if he was to take his equipment and vanish to Britain, to try to rescue Sirius.

Damn his saving people thing.

Or damn the way he seemed to react to both Loki's and Thor's energy and magic, but he didn't want to think about that right now. So he stuck with his saving people thing excuse.

Fury had finally finished welcoming Thor, and was leading them to the room where the other three men were, mentioning one thing or another to the god and to Harry, who was actually focusing on what he  _could_  do to help and yet not give away his powers or true intentions.

The commander of SHIELD opened the glass door, and there was immediate silence in the room – the kind of silence Harry was well used to: they had just been talking about one of the three newcomers, and now they were here, they had to stop.

"I wish you all to welcome Thor, from Asgard. He's recently come to this dimension to help with Loki's case. And this is Mister Potter, he's the expert who actually brought Thor here, and he'll be helping you understand the way the Tesseract worked. He has some very special  _abilities_  regarding the Tesseract, so I'm sure he'll be of great use" he smiled a bit, and Harry looked at him completely annoyed, "Gentlemen" he said as a way of goodbye, and left them there.

A god, a man who seemed to think of himself as a god, a scientist who seemed too afraid to actually do anything, a soldier who looked as out of place in the high-tech room as a blast-ended screwt in a museum and Harry.

He actually felt just a little bit at home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this was a NIGHTMARE to get around, but finally everyone is at the party. Phew, things should flow easily now.
> 
> What did you think of Thor's reaction? And Harry's to Thor?
> 
> Let me know!
> 
> REVIEW!


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I promised myself I would post two chapters of Hurricane before I could read the update for Four (or Five) Reasons for Kidnapping Tony Stark (which you can find here, and it's AMAZING), and maybe beg for one more chapter of All Shapes and Sizes (which you can find on ff.net, by Alzipher, and it's also AMAZING), and so here's the first part of my deal with myself – a new chapter.
> 
> Hope you like it!

"What abilities?" was the first thing out of Tony Stark's mouth, fast and curious, as if any kind of knowledge being withheld from him was a personal offense – including the ones he had no right to actually know.

"I've been working with the bridges for years, and that's what it seemed Loki was doing – opening a bridge, probably trying for ways to open it even more. Of course, he would need a greater source of power, much greater than anything we have here, to open a bridge between any place further than what the Asgardians call the Nine Realms."

Harry decided to answer fast and with no preamble. They were scientists now, he knew where he stood – kind of. He was nowhere  _near_  the level of Tony Stark, but bridges were his business, he could fend for himself there.

"Maybe we should have started with introductions, since Mister Fury was kind enough to leave us here to get to know each other, as it seems we'll be working together. I'm Bruce Banner", said the tall man, with the greying hair and the timid expression.

Bruce Banner, great, the guy who could turn into the huge green thing and kill them all.

"Nice to meet you", Harry answered with a smile, shaking the man's hands, "I'm Harry", the man smiled back and let go of his hand, looking at Thor, who shook his hand enthusiastically next.

"I'm Steve Rogers", said the soldier, politely. You could tell he was a soldier full time by the way he seemed to stand and look and just…  _be_. He was tall and blond and big, and Harry was starting to feel like a very small child in the middle of adults – in the labs things weren't like this.

He was starting to miss his lab terribly. Another shake of hands, and then Thor did the same. He seemed comfortable enough to follow his lead. He was probably still in shock over the news on Jane.

"And that's Tony Stark", Steve said, seeing as Tony had made no move to introduce himself properly.

"Yeah, because there could be an employee of SHIELD who doesn't know who I am, right", he snorted, and looked at Harry intently, as if examining him, "You're way too young to be any sort of expert. Are you some sort of prodigy child?"

Harry had to hold back his laugh. Him, a genius. Right.

"Er… No. I'm just… older than I look, I guess."

"What can you tell us about what you saw when the Asgardian fruitcake invaded the building?" Tony continued, not seeming to notice the way Thor's hands were squeezing the handle of his hammer when he mentioned his brother.

"Loki came in fast. The peaks of energy had been spiking for a few hours before anything happened, true, but the coming in itself was very quick. The wavelength of the whole thing was insane, impossible to reproduce or compute in normal computers. Our database could not comport half of what came through. That kind of radiation is not seen on Earth, and by what I can gather, neither in Asgard, as it wasn't there Loki was coming from, anyway", he made a pause, and looked sideways to Thor, who seemed to be trying to follow what he was saying, "Thor told me, on our way here, that they had seen signs of Loki for a few months now, but they could not pinpoint him. My best guess is he somehow found other realms beyond the Nine we previously believed existed. Why he decided to come to Earth, though, and not home to Asgard, and what he wants to do now that he's here, and in possession of the Tesseract, is anybody's guess", he finished with a shrug.

"And you were  _in_  the room when he arrived, you escaped when Hawkeye and doctor Selvig didn't, and then you not only got invited to Fury's little super party here, but also managed to bring Thunder boy over there back to Earth in a single day? With information that could not be computed by a normal computer? And you're saying you're not a genius? What are you then?" Stark asked with a raised eyebrow, and Harry had to take a second to try and answer that.

Busted by himself, in a single sentence. Wow, he sucked at keeping secrets.

"If we are to work with them, Harry, maybe you should trust them as you trusted me", whispered Thor by his side, with a supporting hand on his shoulder, and Harry sighed.

In for a knut in for a galleon, right?

If worse came to the worst he could always vanish in his cape and hide. Or something. He was never any good at planning.

"I could feel the waves and energy, of both Loki and the Tesseract. I could bring Thor back because I knew… well, the code of the energy for Asgard, and therefore I could call it. I don't know how to explain it any better than this. That's what Fury was talking about earlier, about my abilities – any one of you, doctor Banner, mister Stark, could probably gather as much about bridges in a day than I have in ten years, but I doubt you could sense the energy in this room, and I can do that."

He was getting exceptionally good in telling half-truths.

"Are you an alien like Blondie over there?" Stark continued, as if he was trying to decide whether to trust on Harry or not.

"No, I'm not an alien. I'm closer to an experiment that went wrong than to an alien. I think." He finished, not really sure himself.

"And Fury wants you to work with us? Us? The Super Heroes?", he persisted, a condescending and mocking tone in his voice, but Harry could tell it wasn't directed at him, but at Tony himself. The man was amused Fury was trying to bring them together, to make them work as a team – and was even more amused by Harry being there, because he had already – somehow – gathered Harry did  _not_  want to be one of them.

"Captain Fury has several ideas about what he wants me to do, but I'm not really interested in any of them. I just want to help fix this mess, and then I'm going back home."

Stark stared at him for a few more minutes and then simply nodded in acceptance. He and Banner started to try and understand what Loki could possibly want with the Tesseract on Earth, and Thor and Harry were giving their input where they could – which was less then Harry though he would need to, but way more than he was comfortable with doing.

Talk continued for hours, and he had to admit it was fascinating to see Banner and Stark at work. Stark especially – his mind seemed to work in a complete different rhythm, and the disk of energy that was keeping him alive seemed to be killing him at the same time – he was in constant flux. Dying and regenerating, floating between being too damaged to be alive and held back by technology. Harry could feel every single nerve in the man, at all times, if he focused long enough.

Banner, on the other hand, was the complete opposite of Stark. Where the genius and billionaire was hyper energy and bright ideas and movement all the time, Banner was concentration and reflection. He wasn't, as one was likely to think, calm and collected – he was in rage, perpetually. Constantly angry, that was how he managed not to explode in green every time someone talked a bit more loudly by his side. Another one constantly fighting death, in a different level – he wasn't fighting not to die, like Stark, he was fighting not to kill.

Steve Rogers, the classic Captain America, mostly kept quiet. There was a tension between him and Tony Stark that Harry didn't think he would be able to understand any time soon, and he was always quiet, raging silently, feeling awkward and out of place at all times. The super soldier was told he had a mission, and he now had to wait – and it was clear that seventy years as an ice cube was more than enough waiting in his opinion.

When the only people awake in the helicarrier were the ones in the room Harry was in, Natasha Romanov decided to make an appearance. Calm, cold and collected, Harry was clearly impressed with the way she actually  _was_  calm. Her eyebrows rose when she saw him in the room, but she didn't comment on the fact that the weird guy from Lab had been upgraded to the Super Room.

He wondered how much she knew, and how much she could guess.

And then, after all of the others, there was Thor. Silent most of the time, with a cloud in his eyes every time the room went quiet, and Rogers and Stark weren't arguing, or Banner and Stark weren't commenting on some aspect of the Tesseract that was shown to them in the screens. Silent and supportive, always a step behind Harry.

Comforting, in a way no human in that room was.

Around two in the morning, Agent Coulson himself came into the room to get them, and lead them to their rooms – the helicarrier was flying somewhere over the ocean, and each one of them had a room for themselves, side by side. Stark refused the room, saying he could keep on going, and that's when Coulson produced a call from Pepper Potts, and he decided he wanted a room anyway.

Harry was a bit undecided, and hung at the back when the others left the room one by one – the last one being Natasha. He was not one of them. He didn't deserve any kind of special treatment, he could go and bunk with the other people from the labs like he had done when he had to stay overnight because of work.

"Mister Potter? Your room is this way too", Coulson said in a calm and commanding tone, and Harry reluctantly followed.

He was, apparently, in the team. Sighing, he followed them.

The rooms were all the same, with small kits for personal use, and a lot of things Harry could recognize from his own apartment – apparently, SHIELD didn't believe in privacy for its employees in times of emergency. The rooms were all side by side, and in front of the row of doors there was a small balcony, covered in glass, with a view of the clouds and the ocean down, down below. It was beautiful if a bit pretentious for a war ship, but he had lived in a castle with moving staircases for a school, so who was he to talk about pretentious?

He said a quiet good night, watching as Thor was escorted to the room next to his, and then changed into some pajamas and went to bed. He didn't think he'd be able to sleep, but, surprisingly, he was asleep as soon as his head fell on the pillow.

He must have slept at least five hours, when he heard the door next to his open. Getting up, he opened his door too, and saw Thor slipping in the small protected balcony. Harry followed him, closing the glass door behind him, separating them from the rest of their sleeping team. Thor was leaning on a small bannister pushed up against the thick glass.

The clouds under them were thick and grey – it must be raining on the ground. All over them there were small thunders going out, and Harry shivered a bit, bare footed and in simple cotton pants and t-shirt.

Thor was quiet and grave, and his eyes were still red. Harry tore his eyes away from the god, and looked down again, admiring the beauty of the sky around them – the rising sun that wouldn't be seen on the ground today.

"I knew her for a week only, and yet she had a place in my heart I don't think will ever be fulfilled again. And last night I lay down in my bed, awake and thinking, and I was so afraid I was imagining her I couldn't sleep", Thor paused for a few seconds, before continuing, "The Allfather said, once or twice, I was in love with the idea of Jane, for I hadn't known her long enough for it to be true love. And now she's gone, and I will never find it out. What do you think, Harry? Was it all a dream? Have I ever really loved her, or is this hole in my heart just an ache for the dream I dreamt while in Asgard?"

He never took his eyes away from the clouds, and Harry admired his profile before trying to answer.

"I think she loved you. She talked about your bravery, and your smile and your courage. She told me about the way you became a god before her eyes, after dying a horrific death. She loved you – maybe the idea of you more than the real being, but is it not love even if it isn't real? Who can say they  _know_  the one they say they love so much they don't have any ideas they are just as much in love with as they are with the real person?" he looked at Thor then, and saw those blue eyes, serious and unblinking, staring at him, "Loving someone is not a science, it can't be explained. Maybe it happens in a second. Who needs a whole week when there are people who swear by love at first sight? You loved her. You don't need to cheapen it by trying to understand it. She loved you, and the fact that she isn't here to say it herself doesn't diminish what she felt for you."

Thor smiled then, a small, pained smile, yet so beautiful it made Harry's heart ache just a little.

"How can one so young and fragile know so much about losing and loving?"

"I'm not that young", he answered with a hint if irritation that made Thor smile a bit more, "And I'm  _not_  fragile", he finished with a huff, making the god finally laugh a little bit, "The bridges," he started more seriously, staring at the clouds again, "I started looking into Jane's work when I heard about her story with you – how you had come and gone from another realm through a bridge. I lost my grandfather in a similar way. He fell through a veil in a magical place, and he didn't come back. I had – have – I have hope I'll be able to find him with a bridge. If I can open it, and feel the energy", he went quiet for a few seconds, and then he stared at Thor, who was looking down, looking upset again, "Do you think it's possible? To find him the same way I found you?"

His voice was small and quiet and full of hope, and he kind of hated himself for sounding so vulnerable in front of someone he barely knew, but he had been hoping for so long, he wanted so much to bring his godfather back.

It didn't matter he could have been dead already when he crossed the veil – he was the Master of Death, he'd find a way to bring him back.

He just had to find him.

"Harry, I don't… I don't think it's possible."

Harry looked up, his breathing speeding up in an almost desperate way.

"Why?", he asked, his voice breaking just a little at the end of the word, and Thor looked down, as if he could not bear Harry's pain.

"The bridges, they work on science and magic. A mortal who had fallen through one of them, even a magical mortal, he would not survive the trip, he'd die instantly – be disintegrated. He would… he would become a part of the void between the realms. I have no idea what falling may have caused to Loki, and he's just as immortal as I am. But a mortal would have no chance. He would have no protection. Even if you could find the place where that bridge leads to, your godfather would never have made it there."

"Oh" was all Harry said, looking down, his eyes filling up with tears again.

They fell. One by one they fell, because that, right there, had killed his last dream, his last hope, his last reason to live.

Sirius could not be saved. And he knew it was true, because Thor had been around when Harry wasn't even an idea, and he knew what would happen if a mortal fell, with no protection, into a bridge.

It was not like Harry had not thought of this possibility before, but he had ignored it, he didn't want to believe it. He didn't want to think about it.

But now he had to face it.

Suddenly it was all just a bit too much. Harry fell down on his knees on the floor, and tears made their way on his face, while his shoulders shook with sobs.

He had nothing at all anymore. Nothing. He had been grasping at dreams to keep on going, and now he had  _Eternity_  to face with no one by his side, and nothing to make him keep on going. It was too much, too soon.

He was so tired, all of a sudden, and everyone's energies were all around him, he was choking on Tony's inability to stay still, and Natasha's cold anger, and Bruce's blind rage, and Steve's sense of loneliness.

And then, suddenly, he wasn't drowning anymore. He felt safe, and secure in the knowledge he  _was not alone_. Thor's arms were around him, and he felt just a bit safer there, and their emotions, the  _human's_  emotions, couldn't get at him so easily anymore.

He felt safe, and hopeful, and then, he simply stood there, kneeling on the cold floor, trembling a bit, until he felt Thor's huge cape around his shoulders, and his strong arms around the cape, holding him, and seemingly putting him together after his breakdown.

After a while, he felt more like himself, and got up, Thor following his movements, still with one of his arms around his shoulders, and Harry had to blush as he looked up at the god.

"I'm sorry."

Thor smiled gently.

"I just wished I could have given you better news."

"Not your fault", Harry assured him, with the smallest hint of a smile. Looking around, Harry ended up blushing even more – the glass around the balcony was covered in ice. He was trembling because he was cold – and the reason was the ice he had made himself while he drowned in sadness, "I'm sorry about that too."

Thor laughed at his bashful expression, a small, low sound, but a laugh nonetheless, and Harry smiled a little bit.

Maybe he wasn't so alone after all.

The day went by in a blur. Fury stopped by in the early morning, and they went again to the Super Room, as Stark had taken to call the place the research about the Tesseract had been taken, to continue trying to figure out what Loki could possibly want with the thing.

And all the while, Harry had the suspicion Fury was hiding more than he was letting them know, and by the looks traded by Banner and Stark, they thought similarly.

It was already getting dark again when something worth mentioning happened – an agent suddenly sprang up from his chair, and ran to Maria Hill, who then ran to Fury, and the people in the highest Glass Room stood, staring and waiting until Fury would come and tell them what was happening.

And when he did, Harry knew he had no choice but to follow, because when Thor heard the words "Loki is attacking" he went pale and his eyes searched for Harry's immediately – the others would kill Loki if they had the chance, and he needed help to save him.

And Harry knew he could not say no.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Tony SUCKS. I so wished I could write him better. Meh.
> 
> Anyway, what did you think of the story so far? Let me know!
> 
> REVIEW!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, you all! Here's the next chapter for Hurricane – also, I posted a new story today, a Stony one, actually, called I'm gonna build my boy a boyfriend. If you like Stony, you might want to check it out!
> 
> No more advertising now, on with the story!

"Stark, Rogers, you two are going on a jet to bring him here. Natasha, I want you covering them at all times, from a distance. In case things get out of hand, I want you there for damage control."

Stark looked as if he was going to say something against it, not that it was a bad plan, but just because he didn't want to agree with Fury, but Harry beat him to it.

"Director Fury, I'd like permission to go along."

Fury stared at him angrily.

"This is not the time or the place, Mr. Potter, to be playing games."

"I can help! I…"

" _You_  are untrained, unspecialized and have no special abilities, are you not, Mr. Potter?", he said, shutting Harry off completely, "The sooner the better, gentlemen, he said to Stark and Rogers, who hurried to follow Natasha out of the room.

"I am going too. He is my brother", Thor said angrily, and Fury just shook his head.

"I am sorry, but I cannot in good conscience authorize that. Loki will be brought here, for questioning, and after we have the Tesseract back you can take him home. That would be all."

He left the room, and Thor looked ready to break everything around him. Banner was staring intently at the door through which Fury had just left, and then he looked briefly at Harry, and at Thor soon after. Harry followed his look, and he could see the god of Thunder was thinking of doing something stupid.

Oh well, doing stupid things was right on Harry's alley.

"Thor, you have got to get to him before they do."

"I will, Harry", he said, still angry, "I shall smash all the windows and doors if I have to. He's my brother, I will go to him", he looked as if he might start breaking things at that right moment, but Harry put a hand on his arm, to calm him down.

"You don't have to do things the hard way, ok? I can help get you out of this room. Can you find Loki?", he asked in a low voice, knowing it was useless, since Banner would be  _seeing_  what he was about to do, and he didn't want to test his magic on the Hulk just now.

"I can. I'll fly there faster than any ship they might have. I'll bring him to you."

Harry smiled a bit at that, at the trust Thor seemed to be depositing on him, bringing his brother back because he trusted Harry to help him.

Harry just wished he would actually be able to help the god of mischief when he arrived.

"Come here, then", he whispered, and saw, by the corner of his eye, how Banner tried to look as if he wasn't looking at them.

From one of his expanded pockets he took out his cloak. Looking around, and seeing he had only Banner as a witness, he threw it over Thor, watching as the god disappeared in the folds of fabric.

"I think you'll just have to keep down a bit, just until you get out of the main building. Come on."

He grabbed Thor's hand, and pulled him to the door, waving his hand in front of it for a bit, making it open and then close, when Thor left.

Turning, he faced doctor Banner's curious, if cautious, look.

"I actually can explain all that", he said, even if he couldn't.

Now he just had to wait.

Meanwhile, he had some serious explanation to do.

"Did I just see you make this door open with… magic?", Bruce asked, "You do know we're not locked in here, you just had to push the button."

Harry had the decency to blush and look down.

"Well, I just assumed… With Fury, you know?"

"Not the best track record with authority figures, have you?", he seemed amused if anything, and Harry smiled a bit.

"Not really, no."

"And the cloaking device, what was it? I don't think I've come across something that efficient and that malleable yet. I mean, they can conceal this helicarrier, but it's not a fabric."

"Well,  _that_  was a gift. Family heirloom."

"Really now? From whom?", the doctor asked curiously, and Harry shrugged and decided right there and then that he was fully jumping on the Freak Wagon.

"Well, Death."

Banner just stared at him with his eyebrows raised while Harry went to tell him the Tale of the Three Brothers, and all of its mythology.

They had a lot of time to kill after all.

**X**

"So, what you are saying is that you were a wizard, and then you died while in the possession of three objects gifted to your family by Death itself, and so you are not a wizard anymore, but you are immortal, and you have no limits to your magic", the gamma radiation expert said, as if he was saying it aloud to see if it would make a little more sense with no success whatsoever.

"Not as of yet, no, no limits. I've never tried anything too extreme, because, come on, that much power can't be good for a person, so I've been laying low in the past few years. I just wanted to open a bridge to bring my godfather back, but last night Thor told me that's impossible. So this is… it. I don't even know what I'm doing anymore."

Bruce Banner was not pretending to be monitoring his equipment anymore, just staring at the short beautiful boy in front of him. He was sitting on a table, his legs swinging from side to side while he tore Banner's world apart.

But then again…

"You know, I'm actually surprised none of us thought that could be possible before. With all we've seen and done, Steve frozen for seventy years, and all the tech Stark can produce, and me and… the  _other guy_ , it actually makes a distorted sort of sense", he got quiet and had a pensive look on his face, and Harry let him think, content to swing his legs, "Is that why Fury brought you here?"

"Partly, yes. He actually didn't know any of this until, I think, now, because I'm pretty sure he's been monitoring this room for hours. Even with my magic Thor wouldn't be able to leave if Fury was actually decided not to let him. I don't pretend to know what that man is playing at."

"If he didn't know, if you kept quiet all this time, why come clean now? And to me?", he seemed truly confused and Harry smiled a bit.

"Thor knows. I told him as soon as he got here. And I think… because I need a purpose? I don't want to be lost. I don't want to have the temptation of let's see how far I can go because I'm aimlessly going through life. I don't want to be a hero. As of last night, all I wanted was to bring my godfather back. Right now all I want is to help Thor with his brother. After that, who knows? All I know is I  _need_  a goal", he smiled then, and stared at Bruce, "I can feel you, you know? Your secret to keep yourself centered. I trust you. So, yeah, you, and all of the bugs Fury has in this room. I think I can just say I don't care to keep anything a secret anymore."

He finished saying this just as he saw movement coming through the main doors.

First came a wave of guards – in black outfits, carrying a world of guns -, and in the middle of that black dark mass there was Loki, the god of mischief himself. He didn't have his weapons anymore, and for a second Harry worried where they were, that scepter was dangerous, but then… Then his eyes met Loki's green ones, and the god seemed to see him for the very first time, and this time Harry could tell he could feel Harry just as clearly as Harry could feel him – the magic touching and sizzling in the air, unknown to all those present but both of them.

His eyes then stopped on Bruce, and just a touch of that madness raging in him seemed to be back, and he smiled – a cruel, mocking sort of show of teeth that made Harry's skin crawl.

It was wrong, all so wrong.

The swarm of black guards went passed, and Harry could focus on the world again – and the world seemed to be made of a very pissed off Stark, a tired looking Captain America and a disgruntled Thor.

Oh, that was not good.

Fury was behind them all, and he got into the room Harry and Bruce were at. Harry hurried to Thor, stopping by his side, and the blond looked down at him with a strained smile.

"What happened?", Harry whispered, but not low enough, as it was Stark who answered.

"Oh, I'll tell you what happened. Point Break here thought it was his mission to rescue his little brother and almost got us all killed. We had him in the plane, when he shows up and kidnaps the guy", he said angrily, throwing himself in a chair in the middle of the room.

Harry looked at Thor.

"I thought you said you could get there before them."

Thor stared at him, slightly annoyed.

"I've been wrong before."

The corners of Harry's mouth actually trembled, trying to hold on a smile.

"Well, at least he's here."

"Yeah, the question is  _why_ ", said Stark, and everyone looked at him.

"What do you mean?", asked Bruce.

"He could have escaped while we…  _discussed_  a few finer points of his capture in that forest, he's the one who came, pretty much because he wanted to. Why is he here, why is he not fighting?"

"He's insane, that's what this is", Bruce said, and both Harry and Thor got angry – and everyone noticed how the temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees suddenly.

"He is not insane!", said Harry, at the same time Thor shouted, "He is my brother!"

"He killed eighty people in under a week", pointed out Natasha.

The room went quiet, and then Harry took a deep breath. Well, if Fury hadn't been hearing before, now he'd hear everything.

"It's not him. Not his fault, not all of it."

Stark and Natasha stared at him as if he was a very small kid saying things that other adults would think amusing, but not the two of them. Steve looked as if he might actually try and listen to him, and Bruce and Thor seemed to be the ones that actually believed him.

Fury, however, had a large smirk on his face.

"Indeed, Mr. Potter, and  _how_  do you know that?"

Harry looked at him, completely unimpressed.

"As if you weren't listening to what I was telling Bruce earlier", he replied angrily, and the room got just a little bit colder.

"Harry," started Thor very calmly, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder, "you are doing it again."

Harry took a deep breath – he was starting to think this whole ice thing had something to do with Loki, he just couldn't put his finger on it.

"I know this because I am the Master of Death, and I can feel him. Him and the evil oozing out of that scepter."

Stark barked out a laugh.

"Right, kid. First you can do nothing, now you're the  _Master_  of Death?", he was staring at Harry with a raised eyebrow, and Harry could feel his blood boiling.

He would not be mocked.

With a wave of his hand Stark's chair was thrown across the room, hitting the wall furthest from them, leaving the man staring at him with wide eyes.

" _Yes, the Master of Death, with unlimited power."_ , he said, his words sounding strained to his own ears.

_They are all below you, they don't deserve you._

The voice sounded like his own to his ears, but he had not spoken them, and no one else in the room heard them – through the glass he saw three guards escorting the scepter to a new place, and Harry took a deep breath, clearing his mind.

"That scepter is controlling much of what is Loki. It is affecting every single one of us in this room. You are all angry, you are all feeling as if you should fight something – it is causing all of this. I have encountered magic similar to that before, but not exactly the same. That thing is evil, and that thing is just the tip of the iceberg: someone who can  _make_  that thing gave it to Loki, and had access to him Merlin knows for how long", he took a deep breath, and as the scepter was getting further from then, they all seemed to realize its effect, "I am not saying Loki is a sweet and innocent creature. I feel he'd be offended by the mere prospect of being called innocent," at that Thor actually laughed a little, and the room seemed to get brighter all of a sudden, easier to breathe in, "but this madness is not him. We need to  _help_  him, not kill him, or just defeat him."

"We are not a care center, Mr. Potter. But I do see where you are coming from. We will keep the scepter in a neutral zone, to try and neutralize its effects on the people in this ship for now", Harry inclined his head, content to have the man's acceptance of his word, even if he was not going to do anything to help them, "Can I ask you why you haven't left yet, if you have  _unlimited power?"_

Harry didn't know if that was a challenge to his power, or if the man or actually curious, or mocking him. He decided to be honest, because with how far he'd come, what's the point in lying anymore?

"Because I want to stay. I want to help Thor and Loki if I can."

Fury stared at him for some time, before nodding, and barking out orders through his com about the scepter.

They went back to the monitors, to try and pinpoint where the Tesseract was - the knowledge that someone of that much power could be controlled by something even worse didn't calm their urge to get rid of Loki soon – it actually quite increased it.

While he helped Stark and Bruce with their calculations as far as he could, Harry couldn't help but think of Loki's eyes and the way he seemed to be asking for help.

And he swore he would answer it.

**X**

Those eyes were not human, of that much he was absolutely sure.

 _Those eyes belong to you. You should have them looking at you, at all times_.

Humans usually weren't all that interesting, to be honest. But the  _magic_  he could feel from the boy, it was intoxicating, it smelled like a clear and sunny winter afternoon. Cold and fresh and beautiful.

_Yours, he should be. He will be. If you are not too weak, if you know what you have to do - if you do it._

He was not backing down, damn it all. He had a plan. He just had to follow it, and if all worked to his wishes, he'd be back in Asg…

_Ruling this planet. He'd rule it all._

He sighed. It was a fine balance he had to keep. He took a deep breath when he saw the door to where his cage was opening, and all thoughts of green eyes and winter went away, and he smiled, welcoming the Black Widow.

 _Oh, this should be fun_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure about this chapter, but oh, well, it had to be done.
> 
> What do you think of Loki's POV, and Harry's Voldemort moment there?
> 
> Let me know!
> 
> REVIEW!


	9. Chapter 9

"So what we  _do_  know is that Loki's plan is to set the Hulk on all of us, and make him kill us? That's why he let us capture him?", Steve asked, looking confused, because that was a lame plan, even for a semi-mad demi-god.

"It  _was_  his plan, but he doesn't know Zombie Boy over there figured the scepter thing out. That's what he'd use to make us angry, and therefore, provoke the Hulk to the point where good Doctor Banner would go all Green Rage on us.", Tony pointed out, and Harry didn't even had the energy to scowl at being called Zombie Boy. Stark had been testing nicknames on him ever since he calmed down from his megalomaniac outburst earlier.

He kind of thought he deserved it.

"What do you think he'll do now?", Steve asked again, and everyone in the room turned to either Harry or Thor. The two of them exchanged a look, and Thor actually shrugged.

"I do not presume to know my brother that well – not anymore", and with that, Harry now had every single eye of the room on him.

"I honestly don't know", when he was faced with quite a few disbelieving looks and raised eyebrows, he actually felt offended, "You know, I haven't even talked to the guy. Never. I saw him twice, and that's it, how am I to know what he plans on doing?"

"You did seem awfully aware of his behavior and intentions before, Harry", Bruce pointed out apologetically, and Harry sighed.

"I know, but that's because I can… I could feel him. It's different than knowing what he is planning", he looked at Thor and then at Natasha, and finally at Fury, "You could let me talk to him."

"No. Absolutely not."

"Sir…", he started, but Fury cut him out.

"You were a researcher, Mr. Potter, until barely three days ago. I'm not letting you interrogate the most dangerous enemy SHIELD has had to face in a very long time."

Stark, who up to that point had been focusing on his phone, stood up, and pulled one the screens of the room towards him.

"You know what, Fury? You will. Because Magic Boy can tell us more from Loki with no need for the guy to actually  _say_  anything than Natasha could pull out of him, and that is in no way a dissing comment on your abilities as an interrogator, Tash, just stating facts here", he smirked in her general direction, and then turned to Fury again, "You can do that,  _or_  you can try and explain to us why you were focusing the Tesseract project on the making of  _weapons_. I honestly don't want an explanation anymore, because I actually trust Blondie and the Walking Dead to find the thing and take it back to where it belongs, but it would sure be a hard thing to explain to, say, international media."

Fury actually considered Stark for a full minute before stalking out of the room, grumbling about preparations, and yelling at Harry to be ready in an hour.

The room was completely silent after his departure, until Steve couldn't take it anymore.

"The Project was making  _guns_?", he was completely indignant, and Harry actually thought it was cute.

"I knew there was something in his project that Doctor Selvig was not telling me, when I was redirected to work with him. I might even say his delay in having success in this project might have something to do with the Tesseract itself, and Loki's plans towards it."

"I've  _seen_  what guns made with that thing can do – they disintegrate a man, turn him into dust, into nothing. Fury can't be seriously…", Steve was cut off by Stark, who was way more upset than anyone ever thought he'd be.

"Well, he is. There was a lot he wasn't telling us, now we know part of it", he turned to Harry then, "I have no idea why, but I do trust you with this. Do not let me down, Potter."

Harry traded a look with Thor before answering.

"I'll try not to", he said quietly, and Tony nodded at him in response.

Soon, there was nothing to do there but to wait. Bruce went back to try to locate the Tesseract with Tony's help. The Captain had left to do something or other, he couldn't stay still. Thor was gazing at the glass walls around them, not really seeing anything, and Harry had a huge suspicion Jane's death was catching up with him again.

At some point, Tony went to a side of the room, and Harry went after him.

"Thanks."

"Just doing enough so that the job gets done, kid."

"Still, you didn't have to threaten Fury to make things easier for me, and you did. Thank you. I really appreciate that."

He looked down, embarrassed, and picked up a few tools, twirling them around, a little too fast and too close to be completely natural, his magic nervously swirling around him.

"Why  _do_  you want to talk to that psycho, anyway?", the older man asked, eyeing him carefully.

"I… I have no idea. I don't even know how to explain. It's just… I have to. I have to help him. I just have to", he finished, dropping the tools on the table.

"Well, then you help him, and let us free of that basket case. We so don't need him to cause trouble when we've got Fury trying to replicate Hydra weapons on us."

Harry laughed a little at that.

"Yeah, I guess you don't."

They waited for a few more minutes, and Hill finally showed up, escorting Harry to Loki's holding cell – which had actually been built to hold the Hulk.

"You have twenty minutes, then we are coming in", she said, and closed the door behind him, leaving him alone with Loki and his magic.

The man inside the glass cage was staring intently at him, not moving a single muscle. Harry started to feel nervous – WHY did he want to be here again? And then their eyes locked, and Loki seemed more…  _Loki_ , even if Harry didn't know what that was supposed to be.

Suddenly, Loki closed his eyes and inhaled sharply, smiling a bit while he did it.

"You smell of Winter and Death", he said in a whisper, and Harry could only stare.

What was he supposed to answer to that?

"Who are you?", the prisoner asked, getting up from his makeshift bed, and walking as far as the glass would allow him, staring intently at Harry, who could only get closer and closer, until he too was almost touching the wall in front of him.

"I'm Harry", he answered simply.

"Death would be more accurate", was Loki's response.

"I'm not her", was Harry's answer, and even he frowned at it – where had  _that_ knowledge come from?

"I know, but you smell of it", his green eyes, so much darker than Harry's, never leaving the boy's.

"That's not very nice", he replied, silently cursing his talking skills.

He was supposed to be  _interrogating_  Loki, not talking about his smell of all things.

Loki smiled – broad and clear, and just a little bit terrifying.

"I did not say  _murder_. I said  _Death_. Just another adventure, is it not, wizard-child?"

"How do you know that?", he asked sharply, thinking this was actually a bad idea.

"The same way you know me", Loki said simply, still staring into his eyes, never letting go, "I did not feel you the day I came here, not quite like…  _this_ ," he said, closing his eyes again, as if that would intensify the way their magic energies seemed to collapse around each other, "But I knew there was something here. I had to come and figure it out."

Harry actually raised an eyebrow at that.

"You came here to find  _me_?"

"I came here to unleash the Hulk Monster on my enemies", he answered, his smile slow and mocking, as if he was barely containing his laughter, "Finding you is just a perk", he finished, still smiling, and Harry smiled back.

"I don't know what is happening", he confessed, "My magic just… reacts to yours.  _Yours_. Not that infected thing you've been carrying around."

Loki shrugged elegantly.

"A necessary evil so far."

"So you  _do_  have a plan that does not involve using it?"

"I didn't. Not before", he answered, getting away from the glass, and turning his back on Harry.

"What about now?"

"Now things are different. I have something to hold on to. Someone", he said simply, still not turning around, and Harry wanted to blast all the glass away, and make Loki look at him, "I've been further than is advised,  _Andlát¹_. I made some very…  _unusual_  allies to get out of there and into the known realms again, and I had a debt to be paid. This being has made sure I can't escape my debt", he stopped talking and turned around, and his whole face was haunted, as if he was paler and older, "I can feel it in my bones, all the time. Except when you are around,  _Harry_. The presence diminishes. Vanishes.", with each word he said he took a step closer to the glass again, his voice dropping until it was nothing more than a whisper in the wind, and his right hand was raised, touching the glass, " _You are_   _saving me_."

Harry raised his hand and rested it against the glass, joining Loki's. Their eyes met again, and Harry could see Loki in them – chaos, and fun, and lies, and mischief and the very cold of his very dark soul.

Not evil, just darker than anything else around him.

" _I will save you_ ", Harry whispered back, because at that moment, nothing in the whole world was more important than saving this creature in front of him.

"I believe you", Loki finally said, a sad, broken smile made its way to his face, and Harry had a glimpse of his fall, his complete belief that Thor would never, ever save him, and that he could never, ever trust his father, or brother ever again.

Resting his forehead against the glass, Loki seemed to take comfort from their proximity, and Harry had to rise to his tiptoes to meet him, but their eyes were joined, and he could almost feel the cold emanating from the god.

And then, from their joined hands ice started to form, spreading along the glass, and a small cracking sound was heard, making the whole cage shake.

Harry took a hurried step back, while Loki looked with pure hatred to the cage which would fall helplessly if that thing cracked, because they had frozen it.

Out the door, Harry heard steps.

"I will take you out of here", he said, and Loki simply stared at him, seeming helpless and angry, all at once.

It was only when the door to the corridor was already closing behind him, that he heard the whisper no one else seemed to hear.

" _I believe you, Vetr²_."

And he smiled.

He had a purpose after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ¹I found this in an online dictionary, and it is supposed to mean "Death" on Old North Language. Weeeeeell, I'm going with it. ²And Vetr is supposed to mean "Winter".  
> \------
> 
> They MEEEEEET! Oh, I so wanted to write this scene for like forever!
> 
> Let me know what you thought of it!
> 
> REVIEW!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anon: I would answer you, but I’ll just ask for you to read Tucagwathiel’s review instead.  
> Also, Tucagwathiel, I cannot thank you enough. Thank you.  
> I’ll actually use something Anon said there to clear up something I’m a bit surprised more people haven’t complained about – Loki and Harry’s scene is overly emotional and they connect really fast. They do. I know. There’s also a reason for it – probably at the end of this chapter or the next one (as I’m writing this before I actually wrote the chapter itself, I’m not sure), so, just like with the Harry will be an Avenger thing, have patience, people. xD  
> Thank you all for your reviews!! I’m trying to answer to all of them, just leave them logged in, and I’ll answer your questions/comments the best I can without spoiling you (even if some of you might have been spoiled already, because I don’t know when to shut up).  
> On with the chapter!

“When I actually _threatened damn Director Fury_ to get you in that room, I didn’t plan for you to go there to _flirt_ with **our** **enemy**.”

Those were the first words Harry heard when he was taken to the room where all the others, Fury and all, were waiting for him after having witnessed his talk with Loki.

The whole room seemed quite hostile, actually, apart from the blond god of Thunder who was smiling away as if it was Christmas, or the Asgardian equivalent of it.

Harry took a deep breath, to try and think how to explain it all to them, and have it make sense, when even he himself couldn’t seem to do it.

“I did get information, only not the position of the Tesseract, but you don’t need that, do you? You two”, he pointed to Banner and Stark, “have probably already figured out where it is, and in all honesty? I’m not here for the Tesseract, I’m here because of Loki, and what he said – it is not him. He’s being threatened, and I want to save him. And so, yeah, I’m here, and maybe you are thinking right now that I am deceiving you, or lying to you, but I’m not. I just want to help him.” He made a sort of frustrated noise, and started pacing back and forth in the room that wasn’t truly small but seemed to be so with so many people in it, “It’s not just _want_ , I HAVE TO. It’s like… a compulsion of some sort. I have to help him.”

He looked around and saw only disbelief, and in Natasha Romanov’s case, contempt of the purest kind.

“You are actually saying you are here to save the guy who put all of SHIELD at risk, and killed almost a hundred people? Who took Barton from us, and Selvig, who was actually _your friend_? Is that it?”

He wasn’t sure if she was trying to use her very twisted interrogation techniques on him, or if she felt safe enough that she was showing her true feelings on the matter for them all to see, but she seemed ready to rip his head off while she was talking to him.

“No. I’m saying I’m trying to help someone who has suffered enough. I’m not saying Loki is the good guy, but in this one he’s not to blame, not alone. And you know what? I can take Clint and Erik back.” He said with an air of sudden realization on his face.

By Merlin he was so _dense_ sometimes.

“I can destroy it. The scepter, I can destroy it. And then Erik and Barton will be safe, I can save them.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“ _How_ can you be sure about that?”

The first question came from Captain America, and the second from Tony Stark, and Harry closed his eyes again, frustrated by his inability to _explain_ things and have them make sense.

“I just… Let me try? We can try it. If it doesn’t work, you can throw me in the cell with Loki.”

Thor started to protest when Stark actually scoffed.

“Yeah, right, because you two in that cell would go really well. You almost broke the glass just being _near_ the guy. I don’t want to witness icy sex, shorty.”

Harry had the decency to blush, just as Rogers did, while Thor laughed.

“Just let me try it.”

The room was in complete silence for a few seconds, and then Rogers seemed to come to a decision.

“It’s worth the try, if we can save them without having to kill anyone, or have any more damage…”

“The scepter is SHIELD property and will be used in several studies to come.” Fury started, and Natasha moved so fast the director actually blinked his one good eye, surprised.

“SHIELD will give that guy permission to destroy that damn thing, or SHIELD will have problems the size of which it is not prepared to deal with right now.”

Before Fury had any chance to enter there was an alarm blast, and Hill came running into the room.

“Sir, we are under attack. It’s Barton.” Her voice was minimally shaken, but it was enough to show that she didn’t like the idea of being attacked or attacking a fellow agent any more than anyone else in the room did.

Fury stared at Harry and seemed to come to a decision in a split second, shaking his head, as if he was already regretting it.

“Agent Hill, take Potter to the room where the scepter is being kept. Romanov, Rogers, you go with them. No one comes in or out of that room, except for the three of you. Thor, if you could help?” he half asked, half ordered, and the blond nodded, hammer already twirling in his hands, “Stark, you get your suit, and help us, doctor Banner, please work on finding the blasted Tesseract, so we can pack all these lunatics home.”

He said the last sentence looking at Harry, and then ran out of the room, leaving him, Hill, Natasha and Rogers behind.

The woman led them through some back corridors, to a part of the helicarrier Harry hadn’t been to before. The ship shook and trembled, and Harry prayed to whatever was listening to him that he _could_ actually destroy the thing, and _fast_.

Opening the door with what Harry realized was a very, very private code, they were finally let into the room where the scepter was. Resting on a pedestal in the very end of the white, sterile room, the thing seemed to vibrate with angry energy for not being able to make anyone go crazy with its very presence.

“Could you, please, stay here?” he asked, eyeing the thing distrustfully. The room was long and narrow, white walls and whiter lights around them.

“Not a single chance in the world.” Hill said, already looking tenser and angrier than before. Harry took a deep breath, decided not to let the thing affect him.

“Agent Hill, you are already being affected. You are angry, and you are tense, and the closer you get, the worse it’ll be. Fury sent Natasha and Steve here for a reason. That man has no mean streak to speak of, and Natasha controls her emotions better than anyone else. They can come closer, and we’ll spread out in the room, ok? The longer you take to let me go, and to stay here, the longer it’ll be before I can destroy that thing.”

She narrowed her eyes and lowered the gun she didn’t even realized she had pulled out, nodding at them.

Natasha was next to stay behind, taking a position about ten feet from the pedestal the scepter was on. Rogers stood just a few steps away, looking tense and shaken, but not as bad as the women in the room.

And then Harry took a shaky breath and reached out to touch the damned thing.

Truth was it made people go a bit crazy and a bit angry, but it could just as well turn him into his worst nightmare. It had all the potential, _he_ had all the potential to become so very great, and so very…

No.

He was not falling for it.

He finally took the thing in his hands, and just wished, he wished with all he had, that the thing would just be _destroyed_. Let go of this world, turn into nothing.

It seemed to vibrate harder, and Harry could see just at the tips of his fingers around the thing, ice forming. At that point, Hill actually left the room, closing the door with a strong bang behind her, and Natasha looked as if she was trying her very best not to kill or shoot or maim everyone in reach.

“Just go.” He said. “I can manage, just wait outside the room.” His voice failed him, because there was _a voice_ , it reminded him of _Sirius_ and _his mother_ , and he closed his eyes, he would _not_ let it win. He would not!

Closing his eyes, he put more strength to his magic, feeling it fighting for him, it didn’t want to let him go either, it didn’t want to lose him to some piece of infected technology.

Natasha left, and the scepter jerked in his hands, frustrated and angry at losing another target. Harry felt the ice running down the scepter slowly, turning into something more fragile, just a bit more destructible, but it was so _damn hard_.

 _You don’t want to do this, Harry. I can help you, you can have your Chaos, you can serve together, you were made to do it, just let it go_.

He screamed, loud and angry and incoherently, and he could see Rogers with his eyes closed beside him, his fists clenched at his sides, and he wanted to order him to _go_ and _leave him_ , but he didn’t have the strength, if he moved just a muscle he was lost, so very, very lost.

 _Do it, let go, just let go, you don’t want to destroy it, all the power, all the love, everything you could ask for, you godfather back, your family, everything_.

And he knew it wasn’t truth, it was just the kind of lies it knew was going to get at him, just like Voldemort’s offer in his first year at Hogwarts had made him think about it for just the tiniest of moments, he knew it was all lies, but _damn it,_ he wanted to believe it so _badly_.

Screaming again, he felt the ice spread just a tiny bit more, and he bit his lips so hard it was drawing blood, and he didn’t care, he wouldn’t let it win, he wouldn’t, he could do it.

Just as the ice was reaching the glowing blue center of it, the scepter vibrated again and he lost his footing, almost losing his grip on the damned thing.

And that’s when he felt Captain America tackle him, bringing them both to their knees.

**X**

Bruce knew he was lost the second he lost his breath. The air seemed to lack in his lungs, and he couldn’t do a single thing to stop it – he was losing it, he was _angry_ all the time, but right now he was feeling such _hatred_ , and he was lost, and he hated no one – _no one_ – more than he hated himself in that moment, and he could feel it in his bones, the vibration, the energy, the so very angry energy, _calling out to him_ , and he just _had to go_.

With an angry scream that seemed to grow in volume just as he did in size, Doctor Banner disappeared, and in was the Hulk, uncontrollable and angry, with a single thought in mind: destroy everything that was standing in its way.

**X**

Thor could only assume the man typing in the codes and letting his brother out was the Agent Barton they had been talking about in the room. His brother, however, was not that thing in the cage. He could see it now, even if he knew that had Harry not pointed that out to him, he would think it was just a new facet of Loki’s wicked hatred.

“Brother.” He said, and the god of Mischief turned to look at him slowly, smiling a very terrifying smile.

“Is that what we are calling each other again?” he said, taking a few steps towards Thor, who moved away, weary of this thing Harry said had been using Loki, “I thought I wasn’t good enough to be your brother anymore.”

“I would never say that.” Thor said, and his voice actually shook.

He had never given much thought to Loki, in all reality. He had just gone with him, always taken him for granted. If he was in trouble, the Warriors Three would have certainly been there _with_ him, but Loki would be the one to worry about _saving_ him, them, all of them. And they treated him with mistrust and hatred in return.

When they would whisper in his ear that Loki was jealous of him, he would scoff – not because he was that sure of _Loki_ , but because he was that sure of _himself_. He never stopped to think about how his actions would affect his brother. He even knew his brother’s plot to have their father _see_ he was not ready to be king wouldn’t have gone so far had Odin not lied to Loki so badly.

Had the Allfather not being such a good father _for him_ , and such a bad one for his brother.

“You want him too, don’t you?” Loki said, and Thor looked confused, what was he talking about?

“I do not understand you, brother.”

“ _Vetr_ , you want him too. I am no longer blind, _God of Thunder_ , I see what you want, YOU WANT HIM, JUST BECAUSE HE IS MINE!”

Just as he screamed he threw himself at Thor, his servant just looking about as if that was not unnatural. Thor tried to step away, this was not his brother, but it was hard.

Loki didn’t give up, using a part of the handrail he took out of its place as a spear. Thor didn’t want to use his hammer on his brother, so he took the first swing on his arm, and then threw his body over Loki, stopping him from stabbing him with the piece of metal.

The god of Mischief screamed in frustration, and tried to get up, struggling against his brother’s hold.

“I do NOT want Harry, brother. I would never think of him that way.”

“LIAR!” Loki raged, and Thor was finally dislodged, the blast all the more powerful because of the rage he could see building in his brother’s eyes.

With a scream that was just not natural, Loki threw him inside the cage, closing the door before Thor could get up again. His eyes wide, Thor tried to throw himself against the glass, making the whole thing shake, as he had seen it doing when Harry and Loki were touching the glass.

Loki was smiling away and looking at the controls of the cage.

“Let’s see how immortal you can be, brother.” Loki said, smiling that terrifying smile again, and Thor closed his eyes, a tear sliding down his cheek, knowing he was losing his brother forever in that moment, because even if Harry saved his brother from the madness, Loki would never forgive himself for doing what he was doing now.

Loki was about to push the button when Barton screamed, loud and clear and desperate, and Thor raised his head in time to see Loki’s rage give way to unadulterated _fear_.

And that was when Loki himself screamed, and Thor could only think something was going very, very wrong.

**X**

They couldn’t just _invade_ the ship to rescue their fucking idiot of a boss, oh, no, they had to fucking _burn the whole engine down_ , and now he was trying to find a way to repair it, or even if Zombie Boy found a way to save the idiot who put them in this position in the first place they were going to _crash and burn_.

Bunch of incompetent idiots.

Finding the problem wasn’t difficult, and trying to fix it was not easy, but doable, but the thing was, he needed someone beside him, _right now_ , he needed someone to fucking _save him_ , and for once there was no Avenger friend beside him.

The irony was he could actually have saved himself, flying out of the helicarrier in his suit.

Instead, he was going to die – because doing what he was trying to do was a fucking suicide – to save the most idiotic group of people he had _ever_ met.

Taking a deep breath, he jumped inside the damn engine, to make it work.

With his luck, it wouldn’t even work anyway, and he’d die in vain.

**X**

Natasha swerved to the right, trying to get away from the huge green wrist coming in her direction, and Hill was shooting at the damn thing’s back, to try and take the attention out of her for long enough to get away from it, but it was impossible in the small corridor. The door where Steve and Harry were was just a few feet away, and they could see that’s where the monster was trying to go to, and they couldn’t let it do it.

All of their chances were resting on the promises of a guy who looked like a 17 year old. Natasha didn’t like the odds, but that’s what you get when dealing in their line of work.

Taking another swing with another scream of rage, the Hulk turning to Hill, and Natasha started throwing things at it, to try and make him give up on the other.

They didn’t know how long they could keep up with that game, but it was all they could do.

The Hulk was obviously tired of their dancing, though, as he grabbed a piece of the structure of the helicarrier itself, and swung it around like a club, hitting just a few inches away from where Hill was.

When it lifted the thing up again, Natasha actually closed her eyes, because this was them losing to their own team.

And that’s when the explosion happened.

**X**

Harry slumped forward with the Captain’s weight, and closed his eyes – he was going to lose control of it because of the man, he was so sure of it.

And then, Steve’s hands were holding his own, no matter that the ice coming from the metal must have been burning his own skin.

“You can do it, Harry, don’t listen to it.” He said, and Harry could have laughed in relief, but he didn’t, because the ice had finally formed along the whole scepter, and Harry lifted it up, over his head, and brought it crashing down, with the Captain’s strength helping him, tearing the damn thing to pieces, feeling the weight on his chest simply lift, disappear.

He dared open his eyes, seeing as the small pieces of metal and ice and the blue glowing thing were turning into smoke, vanishing in the air, and with it the malign presence it had brought along.

Letting out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding, he looked behind himself to see the stunned Captain America, and they looked at each other and _laughed_ , because he had _done it_.

It was _over_.

They got up, and Harry let exhaustion wash over him like a wave, he was so tired he could barely walk. He didn’t even notice he was slumping forward until Steve put an arm around him and under his own arms, half carrying, half supporting him to the door.

“We have to get you some help.”

“Just tired.” Harry answered. “I’ll be fine soon.” He said with a smile.

On the corridor there was a very sorry looking Bruce Banner, with his eyes cast down and very little clothing. Natasha and Hill seemed to be helping him up too, and when they saw Harry and Steve smiling, Hill broke into a huge grin, and Natasha actually gave a little smile.

They went together to the main rooms, where the rest of the team would be waiting, and when they got to the doors of the room they were before Thor was coming along, bringing a very unhappy Loki by the arm, followed by Clint Barton, who had his bow armed and ready, and looked just about to shoot.

Thor and Harry traded a tired smile, and Loki didn’t seem to be able to look at anyone in the eye.

They would have time, Harry said to himself.

Fury came up to them at that moment, looking worried.

“Stark is still trying to get the engine running. Stark what is the report?” he screamed into his com, and they could hear a faint chuckle when they activated the coms some agents had given to the ones who didn’t have theirs.

“The report is I’m going to fucking save you, but I’m going down.”

“No, Tony, we can help you, tell us what you need us to do!” Steve screamed, and the man in the engine seemed to get angry with his comment.

“You know, five minutes earlier and there could have been a solution. Damn, I’m going to…”

And the rest of his sentence had been cut out. Through the windows they could see a very small red and gold point falling helplessly towards the sea under them.

Thor acted faster than any of the others thought he could for his size and weight. Twirling his hammer a few times, he threw himself out of the window, and the others waited with baited breath, watching him fly down to Tony, and be able to grab him in a very weird grip, bringing the man up with him.

He laid Tony down on the floor, and Steve went to them, kneeling by their side and lifting the suit’s visor.

He put his hand to Tony’s neck, feeling for his pulse, and Fury was screaming at someone to get medical help there, but by the look of desolation on Steve’s face alone Harry could tell it was not enough.

It wouldn’t be enough.

He could feel it.

“He’s dead.” He whispered, just as the Captain said the same thing out loud.

That’s when Harry felt all of his magic recoil around him.

And that was never, ever, a good reaction from his magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaaaand the end!  
> I know, a cliffhanger, I don’t like them either, but I need to stop writing, and I want to post it, and I don’t want this to be too long or you will be bored.  
> So, did you like it? Did you hate it? Let me know.  
> Also, this is where the canon for Avengers ends, and the other part of the plot begins.  
> Thank you all again so much for your support!  
> REVIEW!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IMPORTANT! I've put up a cover for this story, it's on chapter one.
> 
> So, another one! I should have posted this yesterday, but I got sidetracked, I'm sorry.
> 
> Also, if any of you is attached to Marvel's canon for Death and other characters and plotlines, you should just let them go now – I'm messing it up like it's nobody's business.
> 
> I hope you guys like it!
> 
> Thank you all for the amazing support!

It felt as if his magic was trying to get back inside him. As if every little thing in the whole room – the whole helicarrier, the whole  _world_  – was trying to get back inside him, swirling around him in a way he had never imagined. It felt cold and dark and dead, and in his panic his eyes met Loki's, who seemed to be just as confused as he felt.

It hadn't felt that way when he had lost Jane. He hadn't even known Stark for all that long, but it was  _wrong for him to be dead._

It wasn't  _his time_. He should still be  _alive_.

Harry closed his eyes, feeling colder and colder, and the magic wouldn't stop  _receding_. It was as if he was gathering the energy in everything around him, and when he let loose… If he let it all loose…

"You won't." said a voice by his ear, and Harry snapped out of his grief and fear and  _madness_  to stare at his side where there was someone.

Something?

He couldn't truly tell.

Natasha had a gun pointed at the apparition and Clint had an arrow at the ready, but Loki had made half a bow, and his eyes were on the floor.

"Stop all this pity fest at once, Harry. Just take a deep breath and let go, honey." The  _thing_  said again, while kneeling beside Tony's body. Steve looked as if he was going to protest when a hand hovered over Tony's heart and then pressed at his temple, but a single look from the entity had him cowering.

It…  _she_  was beautiful and terrifying, all at once. Her clothes seemed to be made of liquid wind,  _dark_  wind, moving and swirling and twirling all around her. Her hair was the darkest thing anyone in the room had ever seen, and her eyes were the same shade of darkness – not  _black_ , but  _darkness_ , pure and untamed.

Her skin was a soft pale white, not quite as morbid as it was fascinating. She clearly wasn't human, she wasn't a ghost or a zombie. She was a she, because she  _felt_  like that for Harry, but she wasn't feminine or masculine, she simply  _was_.

She was Death.

Harry stared, wide eyed and fearful, while she seemed to concentrate for a bit longer, and her eyes snapped open, boring into his.

And then she smiled, and Tony was sitting up, gasping for air, and she wasn't kneeling beside Stark anymore, she was right beside Harry.

He let out a breath he wasn't even aware of holding, and while Stark babbled about dying and what the  _fuck_  was going on, Death continued to stare at Harry with the sweetest smile a creature like her could produce, which was, in and of itself, completely terrifying.

And amazing.

"You really don't have to make a fuss like that to get me by your side, sweetie. You just have to call." She said, and her hand hovered over his cheek before actually making contact, as if she wanted to give him time to back away, but he didn't. He was aware of Steve trying to get Tony to shut up, and also Bruce staring at him, and Fury staring at Death, and Thor and Loki trying their best to look respectful; Natasha and Clint not knowing how to act, because you  _can't solve this_  by killing it.

"I… I didn't know I was trying to call you?" Harry half-said and half-asked, and Death laughed – a breathy sound, like the rush of wind through leaves in the autumn.

"Someone you cared about was going to die before your eyes yet again, you wanted to call me. You always do when this sort of thing happens - it just so happens that with our dear friend Loki over here near you, you had a bit too much trouble controlling your instincts." She smiled again, but it was a sad smile, as if she regretted doing it, as if it pained her to do so, her hand still resting on his cheek, "You were right, though, it was not Mister Stark's time to go yet. Life would have found a way to bring him back, to balance it out, Mister Rogers would have probably made some sort of CPR on his friend, and then he'd be alive again, without my direct meddling. But if you call, I will come, Harry. You are, after all, my Master." She smiled as she said that, as if she was humoring him, and Harry could see she actually was.

"Why?" he asked, hurt and confused all at once. She had chosen him, hadn't she? She didn't need a Master, that much was obvious. He could still… he could be living his life, a normal, boring, wizardry life, with Ginny and Ron and Mione and Neville and Luna. He could have stayed. "Why did you do this?" he asked, not caring that he was in a room full of people he barely knew, with a God who seemed to be like a lifeline by his side. He didn't care about any of it at this moment - he cared that that thing standing by his side had actually changed him forever and he wanted to know  _why_. Why couldn't he have been normal for  _once_ , just once in his life.

"You found all the Hallows, Harry. It is what it was supposed to be." She said, her voice placating, and Harry felt it again, his magic gathering around him. A hand, cold and firm, closed around his wrist and, looking up, he saw Loki by his side, his eyes wide and cautious.

"Do not lose control. We cannot afford it right now." The voice was soft and commanding, and Harry really wanted to rebel and act like the age he looked, but he could see how his losing it could have all kinds of wrong repercussions – mostly him being arrested by SHIELD and kept in a lab.

"Don't lie to me. You could have let it go. Don't try to fool me and make me believe  _ **I**_  became your Master.  _You_  made it so."

She stared at him, and looked around her for a moment, before seeming to sigh, sitting on a table, unconcerned.

"You have always been a part of… well, a part of things. Of everything that makes up the Universe. You should have been impossible - you died, and you lived again, and you were hated, but never hated back; and you saw death at its worse, but you never broke. And then you died again, and I saw everything you could be, and how very, very bad it could have been. And also how very much you would have suffered. And I wanted to make it better for you."

She shrugged elegantly, and Harry was staring at her, his mouth gaping.

" _Better_? I've lost everything! I had to leave my  _world_ , my friends, my life. I can't even  _die_ , and I can't bring my parents or Sirius or anyone back, and you call this making it  _better_?"

He wasn't even aware he was shouting, as it usually happened when he lost his temper, and all he could feel was a justified sort of rage.

It never did stop, did it? The whole universe-is-playing-you thing with him.

"They would have turned against you." Her voice was soft but firm, and her eyes didn't let his own stray, boring into his very soul, "Not your friends, but everyone else. You would be their idol, and then their scapegoat. You would never, ever, have been happy there, you didn't even love the Weasley girl, and you know it now. I've always had this soft spot for you. I've watched you. You were never  _afraid_  of me, unlike most people, you would have been true to your ancestors, and would have welcomed me with open arms – you actually did. And I was, as a matter of fact, always at risk of actually being trapped because of those damned objects. Not completely, of course, I'm not stupid, but even a little control is too much control in certain people's hands. Even your mentor would have been bad enough. And then you came along, and, oh Harry, I just want to make it better for you."

She was so earnest, so sincere, Harry couldn't help but believe her, and yet, Merlin, what had he gotten himself into?

"You have a really twisted concept of better."

Death actually laughed, and Harry simply smiled sadly. It was so like his luck he couldn't even find anything else to say.

"I do try. You're still human, Harry. Mostly. And you have someone at your side – Fate and Destiny are always right with their choices, you didn't find Jane by chance, you weren't  _here_  by chance." She turned her head and her eyes found Thor, at whom she smiled sadly again, "It was, unfortunately, her time, dear God of Thunder. I could not save her as I saved Stark. Even I cannot alter these things." She looked at Harry again, "Just as I couldn't bring your loved ones back, but I could make sure you would always,  _always_  have someone at your side." Her eyes slid over to Loki, and Harry looked to his side, where the god still was.

"Is that why?" Loki asked, "The reason  _his_  presence diminishes when  _Vetr_  is around?"

Harry couldn't stop the shiver that ran though him when Loki called him  _Vetr_ , and Death saw it and smiled.

"Yes and no." She answered. "You two are connected. You are parts of a whole, Death and Chaos are part of the Universe. It's part of what keeps us all in balance, in order. Loki has always been the… resonance of Chaos. Just like Thor is the resonance of Thunder and Odin of battle. A manifestation of the force we, as entities, have. You are that for me. You are manifestation of Death as an individual. I am an entity, and therefore, you are not  _Death itself_ , because that is what I  _am_ , but you are a part of me, because I chose it to be so. Maybe the Hallows just led you to me. Maybe I saw you, thousands of years ago, when I met you forefathers, and they asked for a gift. Maybe I just decided I wanted a child of Death to be it for me. I didn't need it, but I could do it, and so I did."

Harry was still having a very difficult time understanding any of it, so he just stared at her for a few more seconds.

"But why?" He asked again, and Death simply stared at him, shrugging casually again.

"I don't have to have a reason. I am an Entity, a corporeal manifestation of the very thing most living things fear in the deepest and darkest corners of their soul. I saved you from that fear. That is all."

"No, it isn't." Loki said, and he seemed angry – not as he was before, demented and insane angry, but aggravated in righteous anger – on Harry's behalf, "That's not all, because you always have a reason, all of you do. This is because of  _Him_ , isn't it? You could see what would happen, and you  _knew_  Harry would be able to help."

"What are you talking about? Who's  _he_?"

Loki looked at Harry and then at Death. His eyes went over to Thor and they seemed to have an entire conversation though that look, and then his arms were around Harry, and he was smiling.

"This is not the place for this conversation." He said with a smile full of mischief, and just like that, he and Harry were gone.

Death sighed, and jumped off the table, looking around her once.

"Always the theatrics." She said, before she, too, disappeared.

There was silence in the room surrounded by glass that was deafening in its intensity. And then Stark had to break it elegantly as always.

"What  _the hell_  just happened?"

**X**

His arms were around his waist, holding him in place, and he had that smile again playing on his lips, while he seemed to simply bask in Harry's presence.

Loki's eyes opened for a second, and they met Harry's, staring at his very soul.

"Don't trust her. She says it's all for your benefit, but do not trust her." He whispered, and Harry was lost yet again, feeling like a very small child in the middle of a battle against trained and seasoned soldiers.

"Who am I supposed to trust then? You?" he said back, and Loki simply continued to smile at him, not answering.

"I do so like the theatrical moments you all seem to enjoy so much, Asgardians always had a flare for them."

Death was a few steps away from them, staring at the two with an amused kind of smile on her lips. Harry actually blushed when he noticed he was still in Loki's arms, and the God of Mischief had a predatory grin on his lips when Harry took a calculated step back.

"Very well thought out change of venue, Loki." She said, and Harry looked around, trying to see if he could figure out where they were. It seemed to be someone's living room, glass where the walls should have been, looking out on New York.

"Is this about  _him_?" Loki simply asked, and Death sighed, attracting Harry's attention away from the city down below.

"Who's him?" he asked, and Death took a few steps and sat down on a couch, looking completely out of place in a modern apartment with her wind made vests.

"Along the many centuries, I have attracted attention from all sorts of beings towards me. I am Death. I am the end of all things, and that is, well, interesting for entities, for beings much more powerful than any human or even Asgardian could ever hope to be. I am one of the entities who could tear the world apart and then build it anew – we just don't do that, because we, more than anyone else, understand our part to play. Some other beings, while just as powerful, do not quite grasp the concept that affection cannot be bought, and that, most of all, affection and such humanly concepts are not for us." She looked straight at Harry, ignoring Loki when she started to talk again, "Your greatest power, your ability to love, that is what pulled you to me. Dumbledore was right in more ways than he could imagine – I understand love, and I can comprehend the eternal search for it, even if I cannot truly feel it. Which is, of course, all for the best, after all it wouldn't do for Death to love someone or something so much it forgets what is its purpose, now would it?"

She looked at Loki again, and continued to talk, Harry frozen by the God's side.

"Thanos is behind this, just as you had imagined. He does not have a connection to you anymore, but by breaking that scepter, Harry made himself known for him. And what Thanos most seeks in his existence is to impress me. He seems to have gained the idea that by killing everything, I will be pleased." She made a face at that, seemingly at the idiocy of that plan.

"Everything? What everything?" Harry said, his fear growing inside him as never before.

"Everything." Death answered simply. "All that exists, everything that lives. It is quite an ambitious plan, even if it's ridiculous – if everything's is dead already, then what would I do? But this is not the point now. What is happening now is that you used much more than  _your_  power to destroy that scepter. Through your affinity with Chaos, you pulled from Loki's power, though your connection to me, you pulled from mine as well. And by doing that, you made it clear to Thanos that I have a Master."

"And he will want to destroy Harry before he destroys everything else." Loki whispered and Harry looked at both of them, wide eyed.

"Can't you just  _tell him_  you don't want any of that?" he practically screamed at Death.

"It does not work that way, Harry, we are entities, not humans. I can't just meddle into things that aren't mine to meddle with. I have already done far more than I should by coming here and warning you." She got up and walked to Loki, staring at him until his eyes were on the floor, "Take care of him. He saved you, now it is your turn."

Turning to Harry, she smiled sweetly, her cold hand touching his cheek again.

"Everything will be okay, sweetie."

And then she vanished.

Harry looked up at Loki, lost and not knowing what to do.

"Please, can I wake up now, and not be in the middle of the love affair between Death and something else just as powerful?"

Loki laughed, low and short, and shook his head.

"I guess not." He looked around the room they were in, listening to sounds up above, and smiled again, "But we will have to gather some allies to win this fight. Maybe it will be alright in the end."

Harry was ready to tell him he didn't believe a word of that when one of the doors to the room was opened, and in came Erik Selvig. He looked shaken up and lost, thinner and a bit desperate, but his face opened up when he saw Harry.

"Harry! What are you doing here?" he said, taking long strides to the shorter man, and gathering him in a hug.

"That's what I would like to know." And at the same door Stark showed up, Rogers just behind him.

Harry wished, not for the first time, that he could just get a break now and again.

It didn't seem likely to happen, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tada! I was going to end this when they disappear, but after that other cliffie I decided not to. I hope you guys enjoy it – and if you didn't read the notes at the beginning, you really should.
> 
> REVIEW!


	12. Chapter 12

"What  _the hell_  just happened?" Stark said, but no explanation was forthcoming.

Apparently, Death had decided to take a stroll to check on her boy, and  _voila_. Here they were.

"Death is an entity." Said Thor, and every single person in the room turned to him with just a tiny bit of animosity – because of all of them, he was the one who wasn't a human.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Tony asked, always annoyed at not  _getting_  something that apparently was clear to at least one person in that room.

"It means it's a manifestation of something that is grander than any of us. You mortals thought us, Asgardians, Gods for many, many centuries, and nowadays we are Myths for you, and yet, I am here. We have a different kind of power than you do, and we are more advanced technologically – what you call science, we call magic. But we are the same when compared to an Entity. She is not the manifestation of something – she simply  _is_. She is not even a  _she_ , not really. She chose to appear as a human before us, but many forms have been assumed by Death over the millennia. Harry probably has an easier time accepting her as a woman, so that's what she became."

"But what does it  _mean_?" Stark insisted, "What does that mean for us? Is the threat over? This was it?" he was incredulous, but also a tiny bit relieved – maybe they wouldn't have to fight after all, and a lack of action meant a lack of casualties, and a day when anyone who shouldn't die  _doesn't die_  is always a good day for Tony.

"It means she  _is_." Thor said, and he sounded exasperated, "Like dying  _is_. Like life  _is_. Like all of the realms  _are_. She just is. This universe could combust and she wouldn't care, because she's all death, everywhere. She is the death of a bud and the genocide of millions. That is what she is."

They were quiet for a few seconds after that, trying to absorb the information.

"And she was here to… talk to Agent Potter? The scrawny kid from research?" Hawkeye asked, a bit of fear masked in his disbelieving tone.

"She was here to talk to Harry, the Master of her Hallows. Whom, as far as I can tell, she has a soft spot for." Thor replied, seeing comprehension finally dawning on the others.

"This isn't even near over, is it?" Stark said, and Thor smiled at him.

"My friend, this is just the beginning."

"Well, we need to find them before anything else." said Bruce, while Stark was distracted by a call from JARVIS.

"Oh, I think where they are alright."

**X**

Harry was half expecting the others to find them, but he didn't think it'd be so fast.

"That's what I would like to know." Stark complemented Erik's question, the rest of the team put together by SHIELD showing up on his tow.

"Don't even look at me, I just came here because he grabbed me." He said, and heard Loki make an undignified sound behind him. Harry actually looked at the god and smiled at him. Even if this whole mess was his fault, he didn't care, he  _liked_  Loki.

Resonance, Death had called.

He didn't even want to think about that.

"So, why the need to crash into my tower?" Stark asked again, and Loki moved, standing partially in front of Harry, as if to protect him. Harry could see Thor smiling at them from behind the others.

"Because Selvig was here, and the Tesseract is at the top of your tower." Loki said that looking straight at Thor, who turned and left, going to pick the artifact up, "And the Tesseract will be returned to where it belongs: Asgard. That was kind of the point all along."

Harry knew there was some Loki-logic in the middle of that confession, but he didn't want to talk about that now either – they apparently had a bigger threat to deal with now.

"What is going on here?" Selvig said, staring from Loki to Harry and the Avengers, and Harry knew the man was nearly having a massive nervous breakdown. It wasn't easy to simply go along with the flow as Harry was trying to do – he had years and years of practice in accepting his life would be crap, and he'd have to deal with it as it came.

Normal people, such as Erik, liked explanations.

"We left because we needed to understand why Death of all things would decide to come for a visit, and apparently, we got the answers we needed. Now, if you'll excuse us, I and Harry are going to talk to my brother, while you humans manage to do whatever it is you do." Loki said with a half-smile, putting his hand on Harry's back, and trying to guide him out of the room, only to stop when he felt Harry wasn't moving.

Looking down, he saw Harry was staring at him with an annoyed expression on his face.

"I am human too, you know." He said, and Loki laughed lowly, sending all kinds of confused thoughts to Harry's mind.

"Don't be like that,  _Vetr_. You heard what our lady said, we have much to do." His tone was patronizing, and Harry was getting more and more annoyed at the god.

"I know we have, and that's why I'm staying right here. You don't get to call the shots, she came here because of the mess  _you_  made."

"No, she came here because you broke the scepter, and now Thanos is after  _you_." Loki pointed out, turning fully to talk to Harry, his back to the other people in the room.

"Yeah, because I was saving  _you_. See? Your fault." Harry pointed out smugly, and a laugh was heard from the door, where Thor was back, carrying the Tesseract in his hands.

"I do think Harry is right, brother." There was fondness in his eyes while Thor stared at Harry and Loki, and the tension in the room suddenly spiked, when Harry thought Loki was going to make some snide or mean remark on that. He reached out and placed his hand on Loki's arm, and the taller man looked at him briefly before taking a deep breath, and looking at his brother again.

"Perhaps." He admitted.

Before he could say anything else, Stark cleared his throat.

"Even if it's highly amusing to see the guy who was preaching about enslaving the  _human race_  over there get whipped by Tinkerbell, you have an explanation to give us. What the hell is going on?"

Harry sighed, and tried to make his own thoughts make sense – too much information in too little time.

"Loki made a deal with Thanos to get back to Earth. Thanos took over a part of his consciousness, and that's why I was telling you it wasn't him there – maybe the primary ideas, yes, but not the cruelty of it. The scepter was the controlling piece of the whole scheme, and when I broke it, the connection between Loki and Thanos was broken as well." Harry explained simply, and Loki snorted beside him.

"Yes. And by breaking it and freeing  _me_ , Harry managed to call all of Thanos's attention to himself. And now Thanos knows Harry is, supposedly, the Master of Death."

"And that's bad because…" began Bruce, and Loki eyed him mistrustfully before speaking.

"It's bad because, apparently, Thanos is in love with Death. That's why it was so focused on destroying this planet – Thanos wants to destroy  _all life_. Everything. He got to think that if he kills everything, Death will be pleased. Only  _now_  he thinks Harry is the Master of the one he loves." He made a pause and looked at all the confused faces around him, "What would  _you_  do if the one you love had a Master? Someone who could control them to a certain extent and you certainly didn't have any sort of problem with killing and destroying entire  _planets_ , let alone a  _boy._ "

"I'm not a boy." Muttered Harry, while Rogers started to speak.

"So you mean to say Earth is okay, we just have to protect Harry?" he asked, and Harry wasn't going to deny that his heart warmed just a little bit to see Steve spoke of protecting him as if that wasn't up for debate.

"No. If we could just protect Harry, we'd take him to Asgard and the Allfather would keep him safe. Once we're married nothing in the universe will be able touch him in Asgard. But Thanos just wants to kill Harry  _first_ , and then destroy your planet. It's only a matter of priorities."

Harry was truly trying to pay attention to the rest of it, but  _wait just a second,_ _ **once**_ _we're married_?

He was staring at Loki with wide eyes, and Stark was the only one who seemed to have caught to that bit, because he was moving through his living room, filling up a glass with some drink, and laughing quietly at Harry's face.

"Nothing will harm you, Harry. I promise you." Thor said, and Loki put his arm around his waist again, pulling him against his side, holding him close.

" _I_  will make sure nothing harms him." He replied, with a slight growl in his voice.

Okay, bad history between brothers, check. It was just a bit too much information, though, for Harry to deal with.

He hadn't slept in what felt like weeks, the Tesseract, and Loki breaking in, and destroying the scepter, and coming here, and Death and Thanos and  _Merlin_.

"I don't think I can deal with all of this right now." He whispered, and felt Loki hold him tightly against his side.

Too much, too fast.

"I think I understand the feeling." Answered Erik, sitting on the couch, and accepting the glass Stark was handing to him.

"We have to defend Agent Potter until we can deal with this threat." Summarized Natasha, and Loki snorted, looking at her with open disgust – which could be more from her interrogation earlier than her comment now.

"This  _threat_  is like nothing else you have ever seen before. It's nothing like you can even begin to compare to. Not even in Asgard have I seen such power, and humans have never been close to its sheer maliciousness. So yes, we have to defend Harry so your whole planet doesn't disappear, but don't say it as if this is your next SHIELD mission, because you have no  _idea_ the size of the problem you have just gotten yourself into." Loki hissed at her, and Harry sighed.

Well, wasn't that just like his life?

"We have to find out how to defeat it. Better yet, if possible, we should find out how to stop it to coming here at  _all_. We have research to do, and honestly? By this point, usually, I'd be asking you all to leave it all to me, because I could handle it, but honestly I can't, and I know this is all my fault, so please,  _please_ , I am really sorry, but can you help us?"

He knew he sounded like a very small child. He also knew they wouldn't deny him, if not for anything else, then for the fact that he had saved them this morning, and so far, apart from the thing in Germany, no one had died on their watch. They would help, and he was grateful, but he needed some other back up now.

"I'll help you." Said Thor, the first one to come to their side, and Harry smiled at him gratefully. Steve was next, saying it was his job to help defend his country and planet, and after him came Stark, with a sarcastic comment about saving everyone stopping boredom.

Natasha and Clint were the last ones to commit to anything, and it was clear why – Clint kept on eyeing Loki with no trust at all, and Harry couldn't really blame him.

"He comes near me, and I'll kill him before we destroy this Thanos thing, got it?" he said, before he and Natasha agreed to help.

"Thank you. Now, I'm going to go and call for some help." He said, apparating out of the room, leaving a stunned set of super heroes in his wake.

"Does  _everyone_  know how to do that but me?" Stark asked, exasperated, but no one answered him.

"Brother, we should go and talk to father about this. We have the Tesseract, we can come back, and he will help us."

"He is your father, not mine." Loki whispered, looking around the room so he didn't have to look at his brother.

"Well, that's awkward." Tony piped in, and Loki had to contain a smile. The man certainly had a way of growing on you, "I say we establish Stark Tower as our base, for as long as this thing goes on. We can't go back to SHIELD until Fury gives us the clearance, and I  _know_  politicians, that's going to take a while."

There weren't many happy faces listening to this, but it did make sense to keep the team together – and what a foreign concept it was to think of themselves as a team.

Stark played at host for a few more minutes, and then Selvig had an inspiration about where to look for Thanos, and Natasha and Clint were guided to a room where they could rest, and Stark left Loki and Thor alone, in his living room.

"Brother…" Thor started, and Loki could only stare.

He was so tired.

"I don't want to have this conversation now, Thor."

"We all thought you were dead." The blonde whispered, and Loki laughed quietly.

"Trust me, for a long time I wished I was."

"What happened, brother?" Thor took a step closer to his brother, who stared at him like a hurt animal, all edges and danger.

"I said I didn't want to have this conversation. You should go and talk to your father about Thanos, he might truly help." His voice grew cold, and Thor's eyes turned begging.

"You can come with me. We can go home." His voice was a whisper, but Loki was already shaking his head.

"You, brother, was always too blind to see. Too sure of your greatness, too certain of your victories to see anything but yourself, and I forgave you for that. Up till I discovered where I came from, my plan was to have your coronation delayed because  _you weren't ready_. Between the two of us, I was way more ready to be king than you could ever hope to be, and yet that was not what  _your father_  saw. He saw you, his golden son, who could do no wrong and nothing more. I wanted to prove to him I could be worthy. I could turn my back against the people who should have been  _my_ people for him, for you all." His eyes were brimming with unshed tears, and it broke Thor's heart to see him like this, "And yet, for me to do what you were always doing, was an error. A mistake. I could do anything, brother, and yet he wouldn't love me, because I'm not his son. I fell because of him, and if I could have forgiven him for his mistakes before that, after everything I've been through… Let me tell you, brother, one does not sell his soul to Thanos because they think they have any other options."

"Mother misses you." Thor whispered again, and Loki turned his back on him.

"I miss her too. But not enough to go to him." Silence stretched and Loki could see a small shadow in a corner of the room, "Go, brother, seek answers, before I's too late. I'll be here."

Thor left silently, and Harry left his corner, where he had been hiding.

"I didn't mean to sneak up on you two." He said quietly, and Loki laughed.

"You should have announced yourself then, shouldn't you?"

"I didn't want to interrupt either." He replied with a small shrug.

"Your magic feels very different." Loki commented, coming closer to Harry, and the boy smiled.

"It was just a Disillusionment spell. I'm sure you can do things thousands of times better. I just wanted to make sure Fury wasn't here when I arrived. Some friends are coming to help."

"From this world of magic?" He asked, now just a step away from Harry.

"How do you know that?" Harry replied, sounding confused, and Loki simply shrugged.

"I can feel you, see you. I don't know how. We are… part of each other, I know you. You are… one of us." He finished, and Harry looked puzzled.

"I'm not sure I follow, and I don't… I don't feel all of that. I understand you. I can feel you, but I can't tell your past like that."

"I am thousands of years older than you, Harry." He sounded amused, and Harry had his eyes wide again.

" _That_  makes this whole thing sound so completely  _wrong_!" he exclaimed, and Loki laughed.

"What? Me helping you after you helped me?" He teased, his voice light as Harry hadn't heard before.

"You  _know_  that's not it." Harry mumbled, and Loki laughed again, soft and light and raspy, like a thousand leaves floating with the wind.

"You are one of us. Age doesn't matter to you anymore." He said softly, his hand resting on Harry's cheek as he came closer, and Harry took a deep breath – cold and shivering and amazing.

He stared into Loki's green eyes, so much darker than his own, and he wanted this  _so much_ , he wanted this as he couldn't remember ever wanting anything else in his whole life.

" _Please._ " He whispered and Loki smiled at him, touching his still smiling lips to Harry's.

It was short and freezing, and when Loki pulled back Harry followed him, pulling him back against his shorter form, taking Loki's mouth in a kiss he hoped would leave marks.

Their lips moved together, and tongues met, breathing hard and uncertain as they kissed desperately. Harry's hands were on Loki's hair, and the taller man was pulling Harry close gently, as if he was afraid Harry would break with his touch.

When they pulled apart, Loki rested his forehead against Harry's, and Harry laughed quietly, slightly out of breath.

"You are turning blue."

Loki looked into his eyes, irises going a little red around the edges, and he could  _see_  how much red eyes meant bad things for Harry.

"Does it bother you?" he asked quietly, and Harry smiled, his hands meeting Loki's on his cheeks.

"It really doesn't." He said, leaning up for another kiss.

And that's when JARVIS's slightly British voice called to them, reporting that Mr. Stark asked them to stop making out in his living room and to actually find a room in the tower until they could devise a strategy.

Loki laughed and Harry blushed, but they followed the voice's instructions to find a room.

None of them even questioned the fact that they were going to stay in the same room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end!
> 
> … Of the chapter, of course. Now we get into the whole Thanos is out for blood part of the story. I considered dividing it in two, but didn't feel like it.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy it, and I hope Death's part is a bit clearer now – I was going to do an Interlude for her, but I didn't want to make her have a bigger part than she has to. Besides, this thing is already TWELVE CHAPTERS LONG, geez.
> 
> Thank you all for the amazing reviews and support. I really do hope you continue enjoying it.
> 
> REVIEW!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me longer to update, but my niece was born last week! So I got a little distracted.
> 
> Also, I would like to point out that Action is not my forte. I'm actually CRAP at it. So even if things are different from the movies, expect to deal with Harry and Loki interacting, developing their relationship, and dealing with each other and the other people around them MUCH MORE than action scenes and battles.
> 
> Just thought you guys should know this, so I won't disappoint anyone expecting action and great battles.
> 
> Oh, also, R-rated material ahead. You've been warned.
> 
> So, on with it!

  


  


Harry stared at the bed in the room. It was still early, but the day had been officially one of the longest of his whole life – maybe only slightly shorter than the day of the Battle of Hogwarts. Too much information in too little time.

He took full advantage of the guest towels in the bathroom and took a long shower, while Loki… Well, he didn't know what Loki had been doing in that time, but he came out, dressed in relatively clean uniform, with a little bit of help from his magic.

Loki was sitting on the bed when he left the bathroom, having shed the outer part of his battle garment, and Harry could only stare, not really knowing how to deal with everything that was going on around him. Even if the threat of Thanos was something that should feel bigger than anything else in his world right now, Loki sitting there, staring at him, his words earlier, it was all in the forefront of his mind, burning in his brain.

He could deal with death threats. He could deal with psychopaths, and he could deal with his need to save people – or gods, as it was the case – but feelings? Attraction, the knowledge that he knew Loki for less than a day and if he asked Harry would give his everything to him?

He didn't know how to deal with that.

"What is on your mind,  _Vetr_?" Loki asked, and Harry felt so terribly young around him.

"Why do you call me that?" he snapped, feeling just a little bit threatened. Loki  _assumed_  so much. He didn't try to  _understand_  things before they happened, he just went with it, and while Harry did that frequently at Hogwarts, and in his life in general, he had never done it where his feelings were concerned.

Loki raised an eyebrow, looking at him speculatively.

"You are hiding yourself from me." He pointed out, and Harry took a deep breath. He didn't mean to close himself off Loki, but he was… lost.

It wasn't a good feeling.

"You didn't answer my question." He pointed out, but not as snappish or as cold as before, and he could feel Loki making an effort not to sigh in exasperation.

"I like the cold. You felt like Winter to me, the first time I noticed you. Not the cold from Jotunheim, ugly and unbearable, but the cold from the mountain tops from Asgard. Like a good winter. Like something that made me feel like myself in a very long time. If you do not enjoy it, I can stop." He explained, and Harry could see he it wasn't often Loki explained his reasons to others, and that, more than anything, was what started putting him at ease – the knowledge he was willing to explain things so Harry could understand him.

"Did you mean it - what you said before? The once we're married thing? That was…" he stopped talking because Loki had started laughing – not a mean laugh, or mocking, but fond, looking at Harry and finally offering his hand to the man, who was still standing near the bathroom door.

"I did." He confirmed, when Harry took his hand, and let himself be pulled to sit on the bed beside Loki, who kept staring at him, and didn't let go of his hand even after they were sitting, side by side, legs touching. "I understand you are new to this. That you spent years alone, and that you still think of yourself as a human – but that's not what you are anymore. You are closer to me and Thor than you are to Stark or Barton. You are immortal through Death's hands. Do you realize how much power that is?" He inquired, honestly curious, and Harry looked down.

"I've never wanted that much power. I've never wanted any power at all." He whispered, and Loki put his other hand on Harry's cheek, making the shorter man look back at him.

"But you do have it. Hiding from it – it's not going to do you any good, nor anyone else around you. You desperately seek something, Harry. You want to  _belong_. You want a place in the world, and you have more magic than any human. Your  _own magic_  brought you to me. My whole power knows you are mine, because you know this is true. You know I'm right for you, I can help you." His eyes were burning on Harry's, urging him to believe it, his voice rushed and quiet, a fierce whisper, as if saying any of it aloud would break the spell, "I meant it – because we both know we belong. I needed you, desperately, you know it. My magic reached for you, and yours latched onto mine. We know it. Why delay it? Why hide it? Why run from it? All your life, all your existence, the one thing you longed for was home. I am here. I am your home. Why deny it?"

"I'm afraid of losing you." Harry finally whispered, because that's what happened in his life – he never managed to keep the ones he loved. Everything Loki was saying was true, he wanted this more than he could bring himself to believe it, and even the threat of Thanos and Death looming over them seemed less dangerous with Loki by his side. He couldn't lose this. He couldn't let himself believe for a single second that everything Loki said was true if there was any chance he could lose it later on.

"You never will. I am a God." Loki answered in a pompous voice in the second sentence, and Harry laughed quietly, fond of this god, or man, or whatever Loki was.

It was rushed and fast, and dangerous and insane, but he  _wanted this_  so much.

Tentatively he raised his own hand, caressing Loki's cheek softly, before inching closer very slowly, raising his body ever so slightly so that he could be at the same height as Loki.

Loki didn't rush him, trying to stay as immobile as possible, his own green eyes never leaving Harry's, until Harry himself closed the space between them, touching Loki's lips in hunger and want and lust, letting all of his fears go with that kiss.

And then Loki took over.

He pulled Harry from the bed to straddle his legs, and his hands ran over Harry's sides until they were in his hair, pulling him close. Harry moaned quietly with the move, and he felt Loki smile against his lips, leaving Harry's mouth to lick a path down his neck, and he felt as if his whole world was on fire.

He was holding onto Loki's shoulders, his head to the side to give the other man more access, and he couldn't  _believe_  the sounds he was making.

Nothing had ever felt this good and this agonizing, as if he wanted to crawl out of his own skin and just reside in Loki's. Loki took his mouth away from Harry's skin, and he whimpered with the loss, opening his eyes to find Loki staring at him as if he was the only thing that mattered in the whole universe. As if Harry was everything. He tried kissing the man again, but the god of mischief held on his hair, and Harry panted a little at the pain, because he had  _never_  thought having his hair pulled could feel this good, and tried to focus on Loki again.

"I am not leaving you." He came closer, a breath away from Harry's mouth, green boring into green as if they were both on fire, "The whole world might burn, and I will make sure the two of us come out of it unscathed. You are  _mine_. I'm not letting you go."

That was almost enough to make Harry come, and then Loki was kissing him again, consuming and intense, running one of his hands from his hair to his hips, and opening his jeans in a fluid, easy motion. He pulled away from the kiss again, staring at Harry as if asking for permission, and Harry latched onto his neck, kissing, and biting, and that was permission enough for Loki who grabbed Harry, making him hiss in the crook of his neck, and started moving his hand, slowly, at an agonizingly gentle pace.

" _Please_.", Harry whispered, letting Loki take his mouth in a bruising kiss. The god pulled away, caressing the back of Harry's head, his other hand never stopping moving, his eyes boring into Harry's.

"Show me what you want,  _Vetr._ "

Harry took one of his hands away from Loki's shoulders and slid it down the man's side, reaching for the folds of his clothing, Loki moving slightly to give him better access, and he touched Loki, squeezing him hard, his hand moving fast and certain, and Loki laughed a little breathlessly on his neck, returning the favor and increasing the speed of his pace.

A few more seconds, their breathing the only thing they could hear in the room, and Harry came, losing his grip on Loki for a few seconds. He covered Harry's hand with his own, finishing what Harry's had started, moaning lowly and languidly, and Harry could hear that sound forever and never get tired of it.

Loki pulled him in for a kiss, long and slow, almost gentle, pulling him closer again, hands on his hair, while Harry's were again on his shoulders.

Finally, they broke the kiss, and Harry took a deep breath, his eyes searching Loki's face, who looked incredibly smug about their little tryst.

"We could always let this world burn, and go to Asgard. There's so much I could show you." He whispered, biting on Harry's neck, and then on his earlobe, and Harry laughed breathlessly.

"We made this mess. We have to clean it." He answered, making Loki pull away and stare at their mostly joined bodies, and the mess in between them.

"Indeed we have." He commented with a smirk, and Harry felt like hitting him on the head, but kissed him instead. He concentrated slightly, and the mess disappeared, making Loki stare at him with a raised eyebrow, while he smiled.

"Magic is very useful." Loki simply smiled and kissed him again.

Soon, Loki was out of his armor, having it dissolve around him and turn into a simple looking jeans, and they laid on the bed, adjusting until Harry's body was half over Loki's, his head tucked under the man's chin, and sleep was taking him into its arms.

They could do this.

**X**

The next day, Harry woke up to a loud  _Ouch_  by the foot of the bed. He tried sitting up, but Loki had his arms around him, locking him in place, and he was staring silently – and threateningly – at something.

"You know, Harry, when you set a Portkey-like thingy to take us to wherever  _you_ are, you might want to be up before we get there." Ron said, his back to the bed, having clearly seen Harry in a semi-naked embrace with a god.

Oops.

"Sorry." He mumbled, and Hermione, blushing and looking down, answered.

"It's okay. We'll just… wait here." She said, turning her back on him too.

" _Vetr_?" Inquired Loki, and Harry turned his head, looking up at the man who was still staring at his friends.

"Yesterday, when I said I was going to look for help… Well, they are it. My best friends." He explained, and Loki's grip on his waist loosened just a tiny little bit.

"Are you sure they can help?" he asked again, looking a bit disdainfully, and Harry could see Hermione's back tensing, and hear Ron snorting in disbelief.

"Mate, we've been helping Harry's skinny behind escape from psychopaths way before you got into this."

Harry smiled at his friends, and frowned at Loki before getting out of the bed with some effort.

"We are wearing clothes, you know, there's no need to turn your back on me." He said cheekily, and Hermione laughed, before turning around and staring at Harry for a few seconds and throwing herself at him.

"Oh, Harry, we were so worried! How dare you show up,  _leave a note_ , and not wait for us? Are you insane?" she scolded.

"I couldn't stay, Mione, you know that." He answered, and they pulled apart.

Ron looked undecided for about five seconds before pulling Harry to a hug himself.

"Blimey, mate, you are even smaller now!"

"Shut up!" Harry answered, shoving Ron away from him, but smiling.

"How bad is it, Harry?" Hermione asked, showing she knew Harry would never have called on them if things weren't at their worse.

"Bad? Really bad?" He half answered and half asked.

"Voldemort bad?" Ron questioned.

"There is a Titan who wants to kill Harry because he is Death's Master and Death herself came to warn him bad" Answered Loki, up and in armor, and looking absolutely perfect and ready for battle.

Harry's brain stopped working just a little.

"Who are you?" Hermione asked, protective and demanding.

Harry took advantage of their focus on Loki to escape to the bathroom and at the very least get a little cleaned up before facing, well, the gang of super heroes and super agents in the house.

How  _did_  he get himself in these things?

"Loki, god of Chaos." The god answered with a mischievous smile, "Harry's protector, if you will." He complemented, and Hermione looked suspicious.

"He's never mentioned you before."

"Our relationship is… recent." He answered back, and they fell silent, waiting for Harry, who came of the bathroom a few minutes later, looking less sleepy.

"We should… go and talk to the others. They may be wanting to formulate a plan or something."

"Others?" Ron repeated, looking at Harry curiously, "Since when do you have backup?"

Loki looked amused while Hermione laughed quietly, and Harry pretended to be offended, and they left the room, looking for the Avengers.

**X**

When Tony had offered his Tower as a headquarter for the crazy band of people Fury had brought together, he had a single thing in mind – keep them from killing each other in open space, and they might, just  _might_ , work together long enough to prevent Earth from going  _boom_.

Again.

This was becoming repetitive.

So, while the others supposedly slept, Tony went down to his workshop, and hacked into every single SHIELD file about Harry Potter. They were dealing with a  _major_  unknown factor here, and he wasn't about to go save the world with someone who was right at this moment probably doing the nasty with the guy who was a villain till a few hours ago.

The files were, to say the least, scarce. Apparently good kid, great friends with Jane Foster, moved to SHIELD base in New York when Foster died, worked with Selvig on the Tesseract but not on the SHIELD specified project, but an independent one about bridges. The ones that could bring Thor to Earth, for instance.

He knew all of that, what really surprised him was the personal data on him – which SHIELD had very few documents on, by the way.

Apparently, his background was of a school for gifted children, sort of like the thing with the X-men, then, only he wasn't a mutant, that much Tony knew. He was also being hidden by the British government, but not the one Tony had ever heard about, and well, wasn't  _this_  interesting.

For a man who became an expert in gamma radiation overnight wasn't that hard to understand that, well, apparently, witchcraft was real, and this Harry Potter person was a wizard. A powerful one.

And the one who was the Master of Death.

Also the one who was supposed to be thirty-two years old.

Things were slowly becoming clear, and Tony spent the rest of the night trying to understand anything he could about this Thanos thing, but it wasn't something SHIELD – or anyone else, really – had dealt with before, so he decided, much to his chagrin, that the best option was, indeed, to wait for the wizard to make his magic.

After everything he had found out in the kid's file, he was, at the very least, willing to work with him, and trust him as far as the safety of Earth was concerned.

As long as he didn't turn into the villain himself, things were good.

He got to the kitchen after having slept a total of two hours, which was just fine by him, and saw Rogers had beaten him there. They nodded politely to each other, and Tony set to put edible things on the table – he was no good at this, but he did have guests and no workers today. As long as there was a contingent of wizards, gods, super killers and super soldiers in his house he didn't think it was safe to have the housework done.

Bruce was next to show up, and he set about cooking something, looking uncomfortable, but okay with the environment. The radiation expert had just set a batch of eggs and toast on the table when Potter showed up.

With  _people_.

"There are more of you, are you multiplying?" Tony asked, cradling a cup of coffee in his hands.

"These are Ron and Hermione, they are here to help with Thanos." Harry answered, seemingly unsure, "If that's okay."

The information clicked and Tony smiled.

"The more the merrier the band to defeat the thing that wants to kill  _everything_. Not the little bit ambitious, this one. Coffee?" He offered, and watched as Harry sat down and immediately Loki and the brown haired woman – Hermione – had a staring down contest to see who was going to sit beside the kid.

Loki lost, and made his way around the table to sit in front of Harry, while Harry's sidekicks took his sides.

While they ate quietly, Natasha, Clint and Thor showed up during breakfast, greeting everyone (Thor), nodding at them (Clint) or eyeing everyone suspiciously (Natasha).

It was one thing to  _know_  Harry was supposed to be thirty-two – and another entirely to  _see_  thirty-two in a person like him – magical, like him – and see the difference it made.

Both Ron and Hermione were  _adults_. Not a trace of baby fat or awkwardness. Ron was a bit loud and impolite, but Hermione was composed and elegant, and they were  _grown-ups_. Harry, on the other hand, he looked like their kid. Not that they looked old, per se, but Harry looked like a teenager.

And they had that undefined age about them.

Man, that had to suck.

Finally, all the food was consumed, and they looked like a bad sitcom or reality show, the  _Super Heroes Mansion_ , looking at each other, and expecting to see who would be the one to break the silence and talk about the blinking neon yellow and bright pink elephant in the room.

"Well, so, since we're all here, including Zombie Boy's sidekicks, what do we know about this Thanos thing and how to defeat it?" Tony asked brightly.

Hermione stared at him with a look worth of Natasha.

"Thanos is not a thing, he's rumored to be a Titan." She corrected, and Tony shrugged.

"Well, do you have any idea how to kill it?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him.

"We can't kill him."

Well, wasn't that just great news for everyone?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of the chapter!
> 
> Don't worry, there will be more explanation on how Ron and Mione came to Stark Tower, and Harry's POV will be back next chapter.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy it!
> 
> (Also, I have a tumblr account, for those of you who have questions about the story – I never know how much you guys actually want an answer, complete and such, on your questions, and how much is just, you know, comments. So I'll keep answering your reviews, but for more detailed explanations you can ask on darkjan. tumblr. com)
> 
> REVIEW!


	14. CHAPTER FOURTEEN

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could make a thousand excuses for taking this long to update this chapter, but the honest thing to say is: Teen Wolf grabbed me, and Harry Potter kind of lost all meaning. I still know where this is going, I’m just too lazy to write it, because if I’m going to write something, I’ve been writing what has Stiles and Derek in it. It’s been very complicated BUT, as I promised you guys, I always finish my stuff, so here we go.  
> I know the chapter is short, but I’ll work up to longer ones again soon (hopefully). I am really, really sorry for the long wait. I really hope you guys stick with me to the end of it.

**HURRICANE**

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

“We can’t kill it?” Tony repeated in a dry tone, and Hermione stared back at him, not looking impressed.

“That’s what I said, isn’t it? We can’t kill a Titan. We don’t have the power for it – _Death_ doesn’t have the power for it. We have to approach this in a different light, or we won’t be able to do it at all” she replied, looking absolutely cross with, well, everything.

Hermione didn’t do well with not knowing things.

“Do you have any ideas?” Harry asked her then, because, of course, if anyone had any kind of idea on how to defeat the crazy Titan out for _everything_ ’s blood, it’d be Hermione.

“Not yet, but I will. You gave me too little to work with, Harry” she said, almost a complaint, but Harry shrugged.

“That was all I had” Harry answers, and Ron sighs deeply.

“So we have no clues, and we have no time either. Also, why isn’t Death helping? She can’t expect you to be able to deal with this on your own, and she said last night she wanted this solved. Why isn’t she helping?” Harry knew Ron was kind of whining by now, but he felt just a bit justified in sympathizing with him. Come on, this was just wrong in so many levels.

“What did you say?” Hermione asked then, looking at Ron with a speculative glint in her eyes – the same one she had when she had finally had an idea back in school.

“I was complaining. That’s what I do, Hermione. Harry finds trouble, I complain, you make a plan, the plan doesn’t work, Harry does something stupid and risks his life, and the problem is solved. I’d say we’re right on schedule” Ron explained, and Harry could see Rogers smiling a bit, and then looking down so the others wouldn’t notice.

Hermione, however, wasn’t paying attention. She looked at Harry then, and he could see she was in full problem solving mode.

“Okay, let me get this straight. What _did_ she say last night?”

“She explained about the Hallows and Thanos. She said I’d made a mistake by breaking the scepter, because by saving Loki I had put myself in Thanos’ sights. Then she said she had done enough by warning us, and that she couldn’t do more.”

“She also said you were her child” a cold voice pointed out, and Hermione turned to Natasha.

“Anything else?”

“She also said she didn’t need a master, but she made Harry it for some reason. She seemed to care for him. Why would she leave him hanging?” Bruce pointed out, and Harry sighed heavily, while Hermione frowned, looking down, clearly processing the whole information.

“Who can understand why _Entities_ do whatever it is they do? They do it because they can, to mess with everything else. They are worse than me when it comes to creating chaos” Loki commented, looking irritated, and Harry felt the urge to smile at him. He looked up, and Loki’s eyes seemed to get less cold just by staring at him.

Harry managed to smile a bit in spite of the whole danger.

“Oh, by Merlin and Godric, I’m so _dense_!” Hermione exclaimed then and everyone turned to stare at her, to see her staring at Harry and Loki, “How didn’t I see this before? It’s so _obvious_!” she said, and Ron sighed.

“Mione, you are doing it again. The whole _I know something and it’s so obvious_ without telling anyone else” he pointed out, and Hermione looked around the table again.

“But isn’t it obvious? This isn’t a problem for _Harry_ to solve! She’s not _worried_ about Thanos, she can _deal_ with Thanos just fine! This is a test for _Loki_!”

“What do you mean?” Harry asked, looking confused, and reflecting perfectly what everyone in the room was feeling.

“She hadn’t showed up until _Loki_ showed up in your life, Harry. She chose you; I’d dare say she loves you like her own child if the way she spoke to and of you is any indication. Why would she put _you_ in danger, warn _you_ of something that bad coming, and then vanish without _protecting_ you? She’s not worried about you surviving, she’ll help you survive even if the rest of the _planet_ doesn’t, but she wants to know how much _Loki_ values _you_.” All the others still looked skeptical about it, but Hermione continued all the same, “Think about it, think about your track record. You are _always_ putting your life on the line for _everyone_ you care about. You just do, it’s who you are. And up till now this was a problem, yeah, but a manageable one. You can count on us just as much as we count on you, but now there are bigger fish around you. It’s not just the Wizardry World, it’s Asgardian Gods, and Super Heroes, and SHIELD _._ You could make all kinds of difference in any battle, and they could _use_ you. _Loki_ could use you.”

“I would never!” Loki exclaimed then, looking pissed, his eyes blazing green, but Hermione just marched on, not concerned about the enraged god two seats away from her.

“It’s a test for him. To see how far he’d go for you, how much he’d try to protect you. This is just Death’s version of a meeting with the parents. She wants to make sure Loki is ready to defend you and protect you, she wants to be sure you’ll be safe with him.”

“What if we fail?” Harry asked in a small voice, looking terrified.

“Then she’ll deem Loki unworthy of you. Either way she gets what she wants – he wins, she’ll know he’s worthy; he loses, she won’t have to deal with someone being beside you just because of your power. Don’t you see? This is genius. We should do this for Rose and Hugo” she comments in the end, and Harry and Ron laugh out loud, startled.

“I’d say threatening the _whole of creation_ to test you future son or daughter-in-law is going a bit too far, don’t you think?” Harry asked, and Hermione shook her head, as if clearing it.

“You’re right. But this is what she’s doing, I’m sure of it” she said, and Tony fixed her with a speculative stare.

“ _How_ can you be so sure?” he asked, ad Hermione turned to him, looking firm and certain.

“Because if _I_ could do that to make sure Harry would be safe with Loki, I would. I’d make him save the world five times over if I had the power.”

Silence fell on the room after that for a few moments, as the Avengers and the others contemplated what that meant.

“This means we have to help _Loki_? Guy who enslaved me and Selvig, and killed a whole lot of people in just over two days?” Barton asked, looking cross.

“It means we do what we have to do to survive and save the _planet_ , and if the way to save all of it is by helping a former enemy of yours, then so be it” Hermione said firmly, staring at Barton as if challenging him to contradict her.

“Just checking” he muttered back, raising his hands in defeat.

Harry simply looked down, disbelieving.

Why did his life have to be so completely _complicated_ all the time?

“But if she’s going to help anyway, why do we even have to get involved?” Natasha asked then, looking curious, “What if it’s all just a bluff, and she’ll solve the whole thing by herself?”

Hermione considered it for a few moments before shaking her head.

“She’ll save Harry, I’m sure of it, but I’m not really sure who else, or what else, she’d save. Harry can’t die, sure, but the rest of the planet can.”

“That’s just cruel” Ron points out, “Cruel and cold.”

“That’s Death. Sure, Harry would be cross, but he’d live. Give it a few centuries, and he’d forgive her, because that’s who he is. It’s in his nature to forgive those who care about him, even if they don’t do right by him.”

The unspoken _Dumbledore_ seemed to float in front of the wizards for a few moments.

There’s silence in the room again. The Avengers contemplating the fact that they’d have to help Loki, the wizards trying to think of a solution, and Loki…

Well, Loki was thinking that saving the planet was well worth it if he got to be with Harry forever after that.

“Well, we’re back to square one again, aren’t we, then? We know what we’re supposed to do, but knowing Death’s reasons for putting us in this position doesn’t take us any closer to solving the matter of _how_ to defeat a Titan.”

Ron’s words did nothing to lighten the mood in the room, but suddenly Harry noticed Loki – he was smiling. His green eyes shining with mischief, lit with a happy kind of emotion that seemed to make _him_ , Harry, feel happier too.

“What are you smiling about?” Roger asked, his tone unfriendly and angry.

Loki looked at him, smile still in place.

“Well, dear Captain, I say that if this is a test _for me_ , than Death knows I’m not going to defeat Thanos” his smiles widened then, turning just the tiniest bit creepy, “I’m going to trick him.”

Well, stick to your strengths, right?

**REVIEW!**

 

 


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO SORRY it took me this long, and it's not exactly my best work, but here it is, the ending, FINALLY.
> 
> Thank you all for following this story and I hope you enjoy the ending!

**HURRICANE**

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

It was cold.

Cold and grey and dead, there was no other way to describe that place, and he would like to be anywhere else, _any_ where else but here.

Yet, he didn’t really have a choice. He couldn’t let the _one_ being he could trust, the one who would be _there_ for him, always, because he had promised so, come here and be decimated by Thanos, if he could come and do something about it.

Even if he had to die trying.

_You are far away from home, little wizard._

He turned around, looking wildly to his sides, but saw nothing. There wasn’t anything in there, but the voice had come from near, as if it was speaking right by his side. He trembled, his hands grasping the cloak around him tightly, hoping it could hide him for a while longer, but knowing it wouldn’t happen.

_Have you come to meet your Fate again, little wizard? Dying again? Or do you think that by enslaving my Beloved you would escape such Fate?_

“I didn’t enslave her! I didn’t ask for it, I didn’t do anything!” he screams at the cold, dark place, not knowing where to look to be better heard.

Not even knowing if he _had_ to talk to be heard in this miserable place.

_DO NOT LIE TO ME, you puny little pest! You dared enslave something you cannot even begin to comprehend with your cheap tricks and weak magic, but NO MORE. I alone will free Death from you, and I shall bring Death all of creation as my gift._

“She doesn’t want that! She told us so, she doesn’t!”

 _DO NOT PRESUME TO KNOW WHAT DEATH WANTS,_ _insignificant human! I will not be deceived by your tricks. Did you really think that cloak would hide you? Did you really think you could lie to me about Death? Did you really think I would believe your lies?_

Suddenly, by the end of the sentence, he was thrown against a rock, his vision swimming, and the Cloak falling from his shoulders, thrown on the ground, as Thanos showed himself. Larger than life, and more terrifying than anything he had ever faced, at the second the Titan’s hands closed around his body, he was sure he was dead.

He had failed. He was going to die, and what hurt the most wasn’t his own death, but knowing he hadn’t been enough to save his love, to save what he held dear.

He closed his eyes, a single tear falling down his cheek.

 _Unhand him_.

The voice was soft, like a breeze on a Summer day, and he could practically smile just by hearing it.

The hands, however, did not let him go.

 _Unhand my child_.

At the second time, the voice as a warning, not only a request, Thanos hesitated. The hands around him became a little looser and he could breathe again.

 _Now_.

The word was almost a whisper, but suddenly, Thanos wasn’t on him anymore, Thanos was gone.

He closed his eyes, breathing ragged and difficult, by fear and uncertainty, but he could hear whispers and screams, and he was sure, _absolutely sure_ , Thanos was trapped.

Death had trapped Thanos, and the Titan wouldn’t be a problem anymore.

But maybe Death would.

**X**

Truth be told, as an Entity it was so rare to actually _feel_ anything that _rage_ seemed foreign until she could grasp what it was.

How dare he?

How dare he cower behind _her child_ , deeming himself more important than Harry, and sending her Master here to confront Thanos instead of him?

Of course, she would help him; of course she would make sure that fool of a Titan wouldn’t bother her child anymore, but for him not to come, not to try?

How dare that trickster god hide behind a human?

She moved across the wasteland of grey and cold towards her wizard, already thinking of the best ways to dispose of Loki without harming her Harry any more than he had already been hurt.

She came close, seeing the dark hair hiding his face, and kneeled on the floor in front of him, reaching out a hand to pull away the rest of the cloak she had given him, gazing at him sadly.

 _Come, child. I will take you home_.

He raised his head slowly, then, his sweet smile turning up and changing into a full, wide grin, and then into a smirk.

Hair sleeking back, and his simple uniform changing before her eyes into a green and gold armor.

“Thank you, my Lady” Loki said, before winking and disappearing right in front of her.

Death stood for a long moment, stunned and bewildered, before laughing softly.

He would be a fine companion for her child after all.

**X**

_24 hours earlier_

“See, you say we trick it as if that’s something simple, but let me tell you something – it isn’t” Tony told Loki, but Harry was already looking at him, and then gazing at Hermione, who had a calculating look on her face.

“Well, it isn’t _im_ possible, just… a bit difficult” she said, shrugging and staring at Harry, as if they were calculating risks already.

“That’s… great”, said Ron, putting his forehead on the table, “Last time we had a plan that wasn’t impossible, just a bit difficult, we ended up flying out of a bank on a dragon’s back. I would just like to remind you of that, before the two of you become convinced you can actually accomplish this.”

“Look who’s being all mature. I’m proud of you, Ron, I really am” Harry told his friend teasingly, and Ron pretended to try and smack him, before sighing, and sitting up straight again.

“Just… let’s make sure whatever plan we have; we also have a plan b, ok? We’re too old to be flying blind into things.”

“Why are you all talking as if you’re alone in this?” Steve asked the three wizards, frowning, “We can help.”

“I’m not sure you can, Captain” Thor told them, his voice grave and face serious, “I have been to battle alongside Loki many times, and while his treachery and deceiving have helped us many a time, it isn’t always safe, and there are always risks. We cannot let humans interfere in this, no matter what plan we devise.”

“But you will need help all the same,” Natasha pointed out, “No offense to your abilities, but three humans won’t make that much of a difference in a battle against a Titan. I don’t even think _we_ would, and our training or super powers are well beyond those of Potter and his friends.”

“Loki…” Thor started, and his brother glared at him, shaking his head, but seeming to know what the other god was going to say.

“I know, Thor. And I…” he swallowed drily, hands into fists by his sides, “I might need his help.”

“Whose?” Tony asked, curious as always.

“We must go to him now, no matter what you plan. He can keep Harry safe. He can keep _you_ safe.”

“Who?” Tony insisted, being ignored again.

“I don’t need to be kept safe!” Loki hissed at his brother, turning away, but Harry’s hand on his arm made him stop and calm down, taking in a deep breath, “I need his help hiding _Vetr_.”

“I’m not going into hiding if you’re going to risk yourself by trying to _trick a Titan_!” Harry protested angrily.

“ _Who_ are you going for help, damn it!” Tony demanded.

“The Allfather. I need his help hiding Harry.”

“And I told you I’m not going to hide while you fight this. You can’t just trick a Titan, Loki, look at what it did to you last time you needed it!”

“I won’t be tricking Thanos. That is why I need Odin’s help. I need him to hide you from everything, and I need help keeping you safe.”

“Who are you going to trick, then?” Ron asked, confused.

“Death.”

Oh.

Now that? That might actually work.

**X**

The last time he had been to the throne room, the throne had actually been his.

Strangely enough, he didn’t want Asgard anymore. He didn’t feel as if he needed to have a whole Kingdom to know he was valued, or that he had a purpose, that he was loved and noticed – he had his _Vetr_. _His_ Harry. Magic tainted with death, and cold green eyes alight with grief and love at equal measures – he didn’t think he would ever need anything or anyone again, as long as Harry was safe and with him.

However, for that to happen, he would need the Allfather’s help, and that was a bitter medicine to swallow. He would do it, though, for Harry and for the future they’d have together. He could do it if he knew he would be with Harry for the rest of their existence – and what a long existence would that be, with Harry being the Master (or perhaps child?) of Death.

Thor was walking by his side – not leaving him behind or dragging him forward, but by his side, as if they were equals, and maybe now they were.

Maybe now, now that Thor had learnt his lesson, now that he could see his brother for who he was and not be jealous of him, maybe now they were, truly, equals. At least in Thor’s eyes.

In Odin’s, he had no hope.

The god of battle sat regally on his Throne, his eyes hard and unforgiving, and Loki suddenly felt as if the most difficult part of his plan wouldn’t be to deceive Thanos and Death equally, but convince the man who had raised him to believe he wasn’t about to kill everything just to spite him. He closed his eyes, feeling as if he couldn’t bear to be in the same room as the man who had lied to him all his life, ruined all his plans, never seen him for who he was, for all that he could be.

The ghost of a touch breezed on his arm for just a second, and he reigned all those awful feelings in. He was here on a mission, and that mission was much more important than his issues with Odin.

“Thor. You have managed to bring Loki home successfully,” Odin proclaimed, rising from his chair, and staring at Thor and Thor alone.

And for the first time in all of his life, Loki saw something he never thought he’d see – Thor, looking angry on _his behalf_ , seeing for the first time how Odin always thought the worst of him and the best of Thor.

“No, Father. Loki came home on his own volition.”

Odin seemed to take that with a grain of salt, turning, finally, to look at the one he once called son.

“Is that true, Loki? You have come home?”

For a moment, he didn’t want to answer. He wanted to turn his back on this creature, this lying, deceiving creature, worse than he could ever hope to be, and leave. Leave it all behind, hide forever if he had to – but he couldn’t. Not for himself, for _Harry_. They couldn’t live all eternity with the perpetual threat of Thanos hanging over their heads – and besides, he was sure Death would find them and demand he give up his _Vetr_ , as he hadn’t proven worthy of him.

He couldn’t have that.

“I didn’t _come_ home,” he told the man, calmly, breathing slowly, “I have _found_ home. And I need your help to protect it.”

Odin descended the steps between the throne and the place both his sons were, his face harder than ever.

“You come here asking for my help after all you’ve done? After threatening a war upon Midgard, after lying to your own brother to take the throne away from him? After all the pain and misery you’ve caused in Asgard?”

“Loki never meant to take the throne away from me,” Thor protested, glaring at his father, “Or he wouldn’t have if I weren’t a fool and a spoilt child when you handed Asgard over to my command. He saw it before you did; he realized how unprepared I was and he stopped it.” Thor is quiet for a long moment then, holding his father’s gaze and seeming to gather courage to continue, “The madness he fell into, the chaos he caused in here and on Earth? None of that would have happened if _you_ hadn’t lied to him, Father. If _you_ hadn’t kept from him where he came from, and why you thought it would be a good idea for you to raise him. If _you_ hadn’t given him hope of being a King all his life, and then taken it away, handing that kind of power to a warrior with no regard for how valuable peace is. Those mistakes are Loki’s, I won’t deny it, and neither will he, but you are not blameless. And I won’t stand by and watch you try and say all of it is Loki’s fault alone, because it is not the truth.”

Before Odin could answer – and Loki was sure _that_ would be a great answer, but the way he was actually getting red in anger, a soft voice came from beside them, and Loki finally had hope.

“We will help you, my son.”

He didn’t want to feel like this.

He didn’t want to feel this warm, soothing feeling just because the woman who had raised him (and lied to him, and helped Odin lie to him, all his life) had appeared, but he couldn’t help it.

Frigga was all that Odin wasn’t. While Odin was full of words of power and praise for the warrior ways Thor had always favored, Frigga had always encouraged him to be the best he could be in his own way. She was the one to teach him how to fight, fast and graceful like she did. She was the one to teach him not to be afraid of his own magic, to encourage him to always know more, to always train his abilities to the best he could.

She was his mother in a way that, he could see now, Odin was never his father.

“Mother,” he greeted, a small smile on his mouth even though he tried to stop it, and Frigga didn’t care that Odin was staring at him angrily, or that Thor had come home too – it was him she embraced first, tight and encompassing, her perfume of lilies filling his senses and calming him down.

Everything would be fine.

“I see your brother manages to talk some sense into you,” she said softly in his ear, breaking their embrace and still smiling, but Loki shook his head, taking a small step back as she embraced Thor.

“Not Thor,” he replied, knowing it would please her to hear him talking of Thor as his brother.

“Then who?”

Loki smirked then, alight with mischief.

“The child of Death”, he said, pulling the Invisibility cloak off of Harry, who stared at the two gods in front of him for a second before sighing deeply.

“Such a drama queen.”

With both Odin and Frigga staring at his beloved in confusion, Loki actually allowed himself to feel some hope that their plan would work.

It may even be fun.

**X**

“I just want to make it perfectly clear that I don’t agree with this plan. Actually, this plan is stupid, and I should have gone. The whole thing revolves around Death saving _me_ , why couldn’t _I_ go?”

“We have talked about this many times, Harry. If you had gone, then she wouldn’t deem Loki worthy of you,” Thor explained patiently, staring at the wizard beside him, both of them gazing onto Asgard from a balcony in the palace, “If this was her first test for him, can you imagine what she would do next, if he doesn’t prove his value?”

Harry kept quiet for a moment, and Thor had to try very hard not to laugh at how angry the human was.

“It’s still a stupid plan. What if Thanos recognizes Loki for who he is? What if _Death_ realizes he isn’t me, and then lets Thanos kill him? I can’t bring him back! If she lets him die, there’s _no way_ she’d let me bring him back!”

“They won’t recognize him. Loki’s magic is strong, especially since you helped him disguise himself. He has Death’s Hallows with him, she will immediately think of you. She won’t realize it’s him until she’s already taken care of Thanos.”

Harry turned then, staring at Thor for a moment, before smirking – it was so reminiscent of his brother’s smirk Thor had to contain a shiver of fear.

Two of Loki he couldn’t handle.

“You don’t like this plan either,” the wizard started, smirking all the while, “You wanted to go and charge at Thanos, and fight him to the death, didn’t you? With your hammer and some swords, and bringing your warrior friends with you. You hate it that it has to be done with subterfuge and subtlety.”

Thor shrugged then, not being able to contain a small smile.

“Subtlety is not my strongest feature. I much prefer open battle, when you know who your enemies are, and you can defeat them with the stroke of a sword, or the swing of my hammer. It is much easier.”

“I used to be like that,” Harry told him quietly, looking away again, onto the far mountains at East, “Before everything changed, before Death chose me for whatever reason she seems to think is fair. I liked knowing my enemies so I could fight them face to face.”

“And now?” Thor prodded when Harry kept quiet for a long moment.

“Now I don’t think we _can_ tell our enemies all the time. Someone can be your ally at one moment and your enemy the next. Look at Fury, or the Avengers,” he scoffed then, shaking his head, “Look at your brother! Wasn’t he an enemy of Asgard just a few hours ago, and now you are helping him. Things change. Your perspective on things _makes_ things change. You can’t really hold on to black and white when you have to face eternity.”

Thor kept quiet for a long moment then, taking a deep breath.

“You know you will never be alone. I know why you refused to bring your friends here, and I can guess what both you and Loki intend to do once this is all over, but you will never be alone. We are not immortal in that we _can’t_ die; but as long as we’re careful, we won’t die. Loki will always be with you, and so will I. You are my friend, Harry Potter, possibly the only one who understands what it is to lose Jane. The one to understand my pain.”

“I’m sorry she isn’t here with you.”

“I am too.”

They keep quiet after that, waiting.

Waiting for Loki to come back, waiting, and hoping, that Odin’s power had successfully hidden Harry from Death’s senses even if only for a few moments, waiting to know if Loki having the Hallows with him would make him seem more like Harry than only his and Harry’s magic combined would.

Loki promised Odin he would stay and face a trial as soon as his business with Thanos was done, and Thor had vouched for him.

Thor had vouched for him, _knowing_ it wasn’t true.

Harry had more hope for the brothers than Loki had, but he could see Thor was willing to make the effort, and he would help Loki through it. He knew the man for two days only, but there was something between them that Harry didn’t want to ignore and make it go away.

He couldn’t.

He had faced more truths in these few days than all of his life in the Muggle World, and he was tired of running – or at least, tired of running alone.

This was it. And it was sudden and fast and insane, but he was going to accept that this was the way he _liked_ his life.

Life with Loki would never be boring, that was for sure.

When the god appeared suddenly, materializing in front of him and Thor, he reached out his hand, and grabbed Loki’s, intent on never letting go.

“It’s done,” Loki said, smile mischievous and accomplished, and Thor smiled at him, inclining his head.

“Well done, brother,” he told him, and Loki nodded at him, accepting the compliment and peace offer it was.

His hand still in Harry’s, they stared at each other for a moment, knowing that now there was nothing stopping them, nothing making them wait.

They could go, or they could wait.

Harry was never very good at waiting.

“Father is coming,” Thor told them, looking to the far end of the corridor, and Harry smiled at Loki.

“Where to?”

Loki smirked again.

“I know just the place.”

And with a shimmer of magic, they were gone.

Exactly as it should be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me on [Tumblr](http://darkjan.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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